LYLE D. McGINNIS, Ph.D.

Lyle D. (Mick) McGinnis, Ph.D., died Wednesday, April 19, 2017, in Chicago.  Lyle was born on March 5, 1931, in Appleton, WI, to Lyle A. and Rose (Heimmermann) McGinnis, and was raised in Kaukauna, WI, where he attended St. Mary Grade School and Kaukauna High School.

Lyle had 47 years of experience in environmental geology and geophysics research and education.  Most of his early years were spent in academia where he served in Geology departments as a faculty member and as Chairman at Northern Illinois (1967 – 83) and Louisiana State (1983 – 85) Universities.  Much of his academic research focused on geophysical projects in the Antarctic.  He spent 1.5 years as a seismologist with the U.S. Victoria Land Traverse Party wintering-over in Antarctica during the International Geophysical Year from 1957 to 1959, and he spent an additional 14 polar summers in Antarctica from 1969 to 1985.  During this period, he served as the National Science Foundation U.S. coordinator for the International Dry Valley Drilling Project in Antarctica, a joint research effort between New Zealand, Japan, and the U.S.  He received the National Science Foundation Antarctic Service Award in 1960 and as a result of his impact on early Antarctic research, a mountain peak located within the Transantarctic Mountain range was named McGinnis Peak.  Lyle was also appointed as U.S. Representative to the Scientific Committee for Antarctic Research on solid earth geophysics from 1985 to 1989.

Lyle spent 6 years with the Illinois State Geological Survey (1960 – 66) and finished his career at Argonne National Laboratory (1985 – 98) as a Senior Scientist researching environmental geology and geophysics issues.  He also spent 1.5 years in Kabul, Afghanistan in 1966-67 as a technical expert with the United Nations Development Program conducting geophysical studies to better understand ground water quality.

Lyle received a B.S. in Physics from St. Norbert College in 1954.  While at St. Norbert, he played on the football team and ran track, receiving the outstanding athlete award for both sports his senior year.  In 2007, he also received the Outstanding Educator award from St. Norbert.  Lyle received a M.Sc. in Geophysics from St. Louis University in 1960, and a Ph.D. in Geology from the University of Illinois in 1965.

In 1998, Lyle and Mary, his wife of 57 years, retired to God’s Country in Door County, WI.  He is survived by his wife, Mary E. (Croake) McGinnis, five children, John, Mary Elizabeth, Robert, Thomas, and Joseph and 11 grandchildren, Laura, Sean, Konner, Taylor, Edan, Sydney, Katherine, Nicole, Eric, Megan, and Sam.

Lyle is further survived by his sisters Ramona Welhouse, Kaukauna, WI; Joan (Don) Hue, Sun Prairie; Rosemarie (Martin) Lake, Oconto; Donna Farina, Upton, MA; Mary Ann (Phil) DeBruin, Appleton, and his brothers, Bill (Georgiana) of Kohler and Tom (Mary) of Kaukauna.  He was preceded in death by his parents, Sister Margaret and her husband David Hartshorne and brother-in-law Tony Welhouse.

A Graveside Service will take place Saturday, May 27, 2017, at 11 a.m., at St. Mary Catholic Cemetery in Kaukauna, WI.