- journal_title：AAPG Bulletin
- Contributor：Carey B. Orwig
- Publisher：American Association of Petroleum Geologists (AAPG)
- Date：1999-
- Format：text/html
- Language：en
- journal_abbrev：AAPG Bulletin
- issn：0149-1423
- volume：83
- issue：6
- firstpage：1025
- section：Articles
After a long illness, Eugene R. "Bob" Orwig, died of pancreatic cancer on September 17, 1998, in a hospital near his home in Laguna Hills, California. Bob was 79 years old and had, by his own admission, "lived a full life." Bob was born May 29, 1919; in Los Angeles, California; attended John Marshall High School; and received his bachelor's degree, his master's degree, and his Ph.D. from the University of California, Los Angeles. Bob and his wife, Laurette, were married on August 23, 1943, just before he was shipped overseas to fight in World War II. In the war, Bob proudly served his country in the Army Air Corps (now the Air Force) as a captain. He flew a single engine fighter plane in the European theater and was awarded the Distinguished Flying Cross for his accomplishments. Bob worked as a petroleum geologist for Mobil Oil Corporation from 1948 to 1982. During those years he held many important positions in offices in Los Angeles, Sacramento, Bakersfield, Denver, Dallas, and most recently in Caracas, Venezuela. He studied and reported on geological basins in many parts of the world, including the local areas of California, Oregon, Washington, the previously undeveloped areas of the North Slope of Alaska, the eastern seaboard of the United States, Mexico, Venezuela, Egypt, and the eastern Mediterranean area. Bob's biggest accomplishment, he would say, was his contribution to the discovery of the vast petroleum sources in northern Alaska. He spent several months a year living in a tent and conducting field studies in Alaska during the period from 1955 to 1964. Though he finished his career with a special assignment as geological consultant to CORPOVEN in Caracas from 1979 to 1981, Bob still held his work in Alaska as the most important of his career. Bob contributed several articles to professional geological journals. He also presented a paper titled "Structural Evolution of Mesozoic Basins of Western North America" as keynote speaker for AAPG at the Crown-Pacific Energy and Mineral Conference in Honolulu, Hawaii, August 1974. His professional accomplishments include membership in the Association of Professional Geological Scientists, AAPG, and Sigma Xi (science honorary). He was a fellow in the Geological Society of America and was a registered California geologist. He was listed in the 1996 edition of Who's Who in the West. Bob served as treasurer of the AAPG Pacific Section in 1962 and as president in 1965. After his retirement in 1982 in Dallas, Bob and Laurette built a home on five acres of beautiful land in Temecula, California, where they also planted and managed a large mandarin orange orchard. During their stay in Temecula, Bob served as president of the DeLuz Ranchos Homeowners' Association, a position he held even after they moved away, until just before his death. In 1994 Bob and Laurette moved to a condominium on the fairway of a golf course in Laguna Hills, California, where he lived the rest of his life. In addition to the other accomplishments of his life, Bob was a wonderful husband and father. He is survived by his wife of 55 years, Laurette; his daughter, Colette O'Brian; his sons, Russell Henry, Carey Bruce, and Eugene R. Orwig III; and six grandchildren. A private memorial was held for Bob two days after he passed away. His family took his ashes to his favorite spot in the High Sierras and scattered them to the wind. This was a place that Bob had loved since his father took him up there as a child, and he passed his love of the place on to his children, and they to their children. Bob will be sorely missed, but he will also be remembered fondly by all who had the pleasure of knowing him.