We are very sorry to report that we have heard through Mike Horne of the Hull Geological Society that George De Boer died suddenly but peacefully on 21st July, one week before his 91st birthday. George De Boer graduated from Cambridge, and was appointed Lecturer (later Reader) in Physical Geography at the then Hull University College in 1947, retiring from the University of Hull in 1983. In 1984 the University inaugurated the George De Boer biennial public lecture on a physical geography subject in his honour. He joined the Yorkshire Geological Society in 1944, and the following year contributed to the Society's Proceedings (vol. 25) an important paper on one of his early research topics: "A system of glacier lakes in the Yorkshire Wolds". This was followed by more than a decade of extensive studies of movement, erosion and deposition on Norwegian glaciers as part of international teams from Cambridge, Hull and Norway. At the same time he began more than 40 years' research on shoreline and beach processes on the Holderness coast, and especially the formation and history of successive Spurn Points. This led to the launching and developing of the Hull Geography Department's more than half a century's research on estuarine and coastal studies and more recently the Wetland Archaeology and Environments Research Centre. Within the Yorkshire Geological Society George De Boer was the Editor of the Proceedings in 1956, Secretary from 1957 to 1962, and Vice-President during 1962 and 1963. He also played a key role in the Hull Geological Society for many years, and it was largely through his efforts as Secretary that the Society was revived in 1961 after more than two years of inaction following the sudden death of the President (who had been at the same time the Society's Treasurer). In addition following the purchase of Spurn Point by the Yorkshire Naturalists' Trust (now the Yorkshire Trust for Nature Conservation) George de Boer became a key adviser on the nature reserve's conservation and management. Outside academic and scientific circles George De Boer was perhaps even better known locally as an outstanding bass singer. He was much in demand as a soloist for oratorios and concerts, and,following the sudden illness of the booked professional soloist, he once stepped in at almost no notice to sing in Hull's vast City Hall the title role in a performance with a full orchestra and large chorus of Musorgsky's "Boris Godunov" - one of the biggest and most demanding bass roles in the whole of opera. He continued to sing in the choir of Cottingham Parish Church well into his 80s. Patrick Boylan ######################################################################## To unsubscribe from the YGS-MEMBERS list, click the following link: http://jiscmail.ac.uk/cgi-bin/webadmin?SUBED1=YGS-MEMBERS&A=1