OBITUARY

In Memoriam

Andrew Gans “Jack” Sharkey, Jr.

A. G. (Jack) Sharkey Jr., a pioneer in analytical massspectrometry and its application to the analysis oforganic molecules, died Nov. 17, 2003, in Mt. Lebanon,Pennsylvania at the age of 84.

Sharkey’s career spanned more than five decades. Aphysicist by training, he attended the College ofWooster, Case Institute of Technology and the Univer-sity of Pittsburgh. Upon graduation in 1943, he joinedWestinghouse where he was a member of a teamdeveloping the Westinghouse mass spectrometer. Hejoined the U.S. Bureau of Mines in 1946 and stayed withthe laboratory in Bruceton Pennsylvania during itstransition to the Department of Energy in 1977. From1978 to 1985, he was Deputy Director of the PittsburghEnergy Technology Center (PETC), at that time thelargest fossil energy research center operated by thefederal government. Sharkey’s major research interestat PETC was the application of spectrometric tech-niques to the analysis of coal and coal-derived fuels. Hehad more than 200 publications to his credit, most ofthem in the field of mass spectrometry of organiccompounds.

As an adjunct faculty member at the Department ofGeology and Planetary Science (GPS) at the University

Published online February 6, 2004

© 2004 American Society for Mass Spectrometry. Published by Elsevie1044-0305/04/$30.00doi:10.1016/S1044-0305(04)00026-1(J Am Soc Mass Spectrom 2004, 15, 627, 628)

of Pittsburgh, Sharkey taught two of the earliest grad-uate-level mass spectrometry courses in the countrybeginning in 1964 and continuing through his retire-ment. The two-course sequence, “Introductory MassSpectrometry” and “Interpretation of Mass Spectra,”included students from many departments at the Uni-versity of Pittsburgh as well as from other universitiesand industrial research laboratories in the area.

Following Sharkey’s retirement from the federal gov-ernment in 1985, he was named Research Professor forthe Departments of Chemistry and GPS and a seniorresearch collaborator with Professor David Hercules inthe University’s Surface Science Laboratory.

Jack was also a sterling citizen of the scientificcommunity. He worked tirelessly as meeting organizer,session chair, committee member, and society officer forseveral scientific societies. A long-time member andpast Chairman of the Pittsburgh Conference on Analyt-ical Chemistry and Applied Spectroscopy, and of theSpectroscopy Society in Pittsburgh, he was also a char-ter member of ASTM Committee E-14 on Mass Spectro-metry and Allied Topics and of its successor organiza-tion, the American Society for Mass Spectrometry(ASMS). In 1963, Jack served a term as Vice-Presidentfor Arrangements for ASTM E-14 and in 1971 he was a

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Charter Member of the Board of the newly-formedASMS as Member-at-Large.

Among his many awards, Sharkey received the De-partment of Interior Distinguished Service Award in1970 and the Department of Energy DistinguishedCareer Service Award in 1985, the highest awards givenby those departments, respectively. He was the recipi-ent of the Pittsburgh Award of the American ChemicalSociety, Pittsburgh Section, in 1992, and the ACS Stu-dent Affiliates Outstanding Service Award the sameyear. He was honored in 1994 as a pioneer in massspectrometry at the James L. Waters Symposium inChicago and in 1997 with a symposium in his name thatbrought some of the world’s best-known scientists inmass spectrometry and geochemistry to Pittsburgh.

While Jack Sharkey’s record of publications in the

scientific literature attests to his success and productiv-ity as a research scientist, those who knew him as arespected colleague, wise mentor, enthusiastic teacher,or good friend will remember him as a self-effacing,gentle, kind man; ready to help with his considerableexpertise and knowledge without a moment’s hesita-tion. He was always supportive of young investigatorsand promoted their careers by invitations to confer-ences and symposia that he organized. He will beremembered for his great enthusiasm for mass spectro-metry and its practitioners.

Michael GraysonDepartment of Chemistry

Washington University

St. Louis, Missouri, USA