Two more new Named Grants have been announced
by the AAPG Foundation,
both started in honor of people who have provided long and valuable
service to the Association.
Those being honored with Named Grants are Don O'Nesky,
who for 24 years served at the helm of the financial and administrative
interests of AAPG in a variety of capacities, and the Bob and Ruth
Weimer family.
O'Nesky's Named Grant was announced by AAPG Foundation
Chairman Jack Threet in late June at O'Nesky's retirement party.
The new grant will provide at least $500 annually
to a geoscience graduate student.
O'Nesky retired as deputy executive director of AAPG
and the AAPG Foundation. He had joined AAPG in 1978 as business
director after a career in the U.S. Air Force, where he served in
numerous overseas administrative assignments and retired from active
service as a lieutenant colonel.
He was named deputy executive director of both AAPG
and the AAPG Foundation in 1986. O'Nesky also has served as special
projects director.
He was named executive director of the AAPG Foundation
in 1997 and served in that capacity until Rick Fritz was hired as
executive director of both AAPG and the Foundation in 1999.
During his tenure as overseer of the association's
budgetary functions, O'Nesky played a major role in the growth of
AAPG from its annual income of $2.5 million in 1978 to over $11
million today, with member services increasing many-fold — all
while holding expenses to a minimum.
The Weimer Family Named Grant will be given annually
to support a graduate student's thesis research, with first preference
given to geology students enrolled at the University of Wyoming.
Bob Weimer, a Sidney Powers Medalist and past president
of AAPG, is professor emeritus at the Colorado School of Mines,
where he had a long teaching career.
He and his wife had four sons: Paul, who holds the
Bruce D. Benson Endowed Chair in Petroleum Geology at the University
of Colorado and is the current AAPG treasurer; Tom, who is deputy
assistant for water and science for the U.S. Geological Survey and
the Bureau of Reclamation; and Carl, with Ball Aerospace, Boulder,
Colo. A fourth son, Loren, is deceased.