Renowned Scripps Oceanography Geologist Edward 'Jerry' Winterer, Del Mar Resident, Dies

DEL MAR, CA — Scripps Institution of Oceanography at UC San Diego Emeritus Professor of Geology Edward "Jerry" Litton Winterer, died Aug. 30 at his home in Del Mar. He was 91.

Winterer was a renowned expert in the study of sediments and after being recruited to Scripps, he became deeply involved in what was then known as the Deep Sea Drilling Project. Previously he had been a UCLA geology professor interested in sediments in the American desert southwest. He came to Scripps with no training in oceanography, but fate soon led him to a rich career working with sediments that cover the seafloors of the world’s oceans.

The earliest attempt at ocean drilling was Project Mohole, conceived of in 1957 as an attempt to drill to the point where the earth’s crust and mantle meet. It was to be an attempt to drill to the point where the earth’s crust and mantle meet. Cost overruns scuttled the project but laid the groundwork for the Deep Sea Drilling Project, which began at Scripps in 1968.

In an oral history recorded in 2006, Winterer recalled his first drilling trip in the western Pacific Ocean in 1969:

“We knew almost nothing about what we were going to run into. Mainly just blank mystery. And so I simply oriented my career thereafter on a study of the kind of sediments that occurred way out there in the main ocean basin, so-called pelagic sediments, far from the land and just out there.”

The drilling program went on over the course of dozens of worldwide expeditions, six led by Winterer, to enable scientists to reconstruct 150 million years of ocean history and to confirm plate tectonics hypotheses about seafloor spreading and other phenomena.

Winterer also played a major role in the administration of Scripps, serving as chairman of the graduate department from 1968 to 1972. In addition, he was a member of the Scripps academic staff from the time he joined the institution, becoming a distinguished research professor in 1994, and retiring in 1997.

“Jerry Winterer was the man who introduced me to the wonders of limestone in the Alps of Italy,” said his former student Christopher Metzler, now a professor at Mira Costa College. “Not only did he impart great knowledge, and introduce me to how to think about Jurassic limestone, but also his gentle manner inspired me.”

Winterer was joined at Scripps by wife and fellow geologist Jacqueline Mammerickx. The two had met in 1960, when the young professor Winterer had put a question to Mammerickx during her dissertation defense at the University of Louvain in her native Belgium. He told her there were geological features in the Mojave Desert that she really needed to see in person. After Winterer returned to UCLA, Mammerickx came to the university on a fellowship. The two married in 1964.

Winterer was born Feb. 14, 1925 in Oakland, California. His father, also a geologist, was vice-president of the Superior Oil company. He received his bachelor’s and master’s degrees in geology at UCLA before receiving his doctorate there in 1954. While a student, he worked as a geologist for the U.S. Geological Survey from 1949 to 1953.

Winterer joined the UCLA faculty after receiving his doctorate. His being awarded the position of Fulbright Lecturer at the University of Louvain is what enabled him to first meet his future wife. Other awards included the Shepard Medal for Excellence in Marine Geology in 2000 and an American Geophysical Union fellowship in 2004.

Winterer is survived by his wife, Jacqueline Mammerickx, five children (Catherine Grainger of Spokane, Wash.; Stephen Winterer of Spokane; Wendy Skolfield of Topanga, Calif.; Juliette Winterer of Lancaster, Penn.; and Caroline Winterer of Menlo Park, Calif.); 11 grandchildren; and 16 great grandchildren.

A private family memorial service will take place later in the fall.

— UC San Diego Publications