BCMS Remembrance of Jack Larimer

BCMS is saddened by the loss of Professor John W. (Jack) Larimer (1939-2026). Jack joined the ASU Geology faculty in 1969 as Assistant Professor of Geology and the Assistant Director for the Center for Meteorite Studies. Jack’s research had a major impact on meteoritics and the use of meteorites to understand the early history of the Solar System. His notable scholarly works helped define the modern understanding of nebular condensation, the origin of chondrites, differences in trace element patterns associated with condensation and magmatic processes, and the use of volatile element contents as a means of relating meteorites, Earth, and other inner solar system bodies. His professional honors included the Nininger Meteorite Award (1966), Meteoritical Society Fellow (1969), a NATO Senior Post-doctoral Fellowship at the Max Plank Institute for Chemistry in Mainz, Germany (1975-1976), and a visiting professorship at Caltech (1979-1980). His ASU contemporaries, Prof. Don Burt and Prof. Emeritus Peter Buseck, remember him with great fondness and respect as a congenial colleague, close personal friend, and key pioneering meteoriticist.