Thomas R. Magorian

Dr Thomas R Magorian passed away peacefully June 17th 2016 at a hospice in MD at 87 of leukemia. Having had a classical Greek and Latin high schooleducation at Walnut Hills magnet HS in Cincinnati OH, he greatly appreciated the intellectual rigor and free life of the mind found at the University of Chicago, where he met and married Roslyn Lubin of Brooklyn, NY and graduated with a PhD 4 years after entering as a freshman in 1950.

His career spanned 60+ years as a petroleum geologist and geophysicist.  After a brief stint in Alameda CA as Radio Officer during the Korean War, and then the US Core of Engineers, he worked for Shell Oil in 13 locations in the western US, drilled his own oil well in Brownwood TX, then joined CALSPAN in Buffalo NY and TIPCO in Oklahoma before becoming an independent consulting geologist for 30+ years. Notable achievements were siting alignment of the Trans-Alaska Pipeline in the 1970s, Principal Consulting Geologist for the US Dept of Energy Strategic Petroleum Reserve and Exxon in the 1980s, and siting natural gas storage in salt domes for various pipeline companies in the 90s and 2000s.  During that career he also located and developed several new oil fields, and claimed that he knew the geology of important oil locations like south Louisiana better than anyone of his time.

He is survived by 2 of 4 children: Daniel Magorian, son of Catonsville MD, and Fern Magorian Kucinski, daughter of Crofton MD, and 1 of 2 sisters Nancy Magorian Sales of Birmingham, AL.