Charles R. Stelck

Dr. Stelck died on May 14, 2016, at the age of 98. During his career he had published more than 100 peer reviewed scientific papers, the last one in the year of his death, as well as writing dozens of works on the geology of Alberta and northeastern British Columbia for various text books. In addition to the many honours he received, some of which are listed below, Asteroid 187680 Stelck is named for him, as are many fossil organisms such as the ammonite Stelckiceras liardense. The University of Alberta has established the C.R. Stelck Chair in Petroleum Geology to continue his work.

Charlie Stelck was born in Edmonton, Alberta, where he grew up hunting and fishing with his father and learning wilderness survival skills. As a teenager, he spent summers working on geological field parties, and after winning a Tegler Scholarship, he enrolled at the University of Alberta. He intended to pursue a degree in chemistry and education but entered the geology program at the urging of his friend, Robert Folinsbee, obtaining a B.Sc. degree in geology in 1937 and an M.Sc. in 1941. Later, after winning a fellowship from Imperial Oil, he obtained his Ph.D. degree at Stanford University in 1951.

Charles Richard Stelck, O.C., Ph.D., F.R.S.C., P.Geol. (May 20, 1917 – May 14, 2016) was a Canadian petroleum geologist, paleontologist, stratigrapher, and university professor. He is known for his pioneering work on unraveling the stratigraphy of the Western Canada Sedimentary Basin, and his inspired use of biostratigraphy as an exploration tool for finding petroleum and natural gas fields.