Arthur G. Sylvester, a UC Santa Barbara professor emeritus of geological sciences who pioneered global understanding of strike-slip earthquake faults, published three books on southern California geology, and inspired thousands of students to become better scientists and writers, died May 2, 2023 in Santa Barbara. He was 85.
Arthur was born to Dorothy Pritchard and Jack Sylvester in Altadena, California, in 1938 and grew up in South Pasadena, California.
After winning a Los Angeles Times full-ride scholarship contest, he chose Pomona College, where he earned his A.B. degree in liberal arts and geology in 1959. He earned his M.A. in 1963, and Ph.D in 1966 from UCLA.
Over many years of service to UCSB (including five as department chair), Art was regarded as a broad geologic thinker and field scientist of unimpeachable integrity.
His research centered on structural, seismic, and igneous rock formations in the Colorado and Mojave deserts, the Lake Tahoe region, and the Transverse Ranges of southern California, as well as in Norway, Iceland, Hawaii, and Italy.
According to the UCSB Earth Sciences Department: “He was a guiding presence in the department for over 50 years. He inspired literally thousands of students through his passion for field studies, building a vast army of devoted mentees. He leaves behind a towering legacy.”
Art married Diane Stubblefield in June 1961, and within two weeks the young couple was off on a whirlwind, life-changing honeymoon year in Norway, where Art studied the evolution of granitic plutons as a Fulbright Scholar at the University of Oslo.
The experience in Norway transformed his life, personally and professionally. In 1972-74, with Diane and their two young daughters, he returned to Norway as director of the University of California’s Scandinavian Study Center at the University of Bergen.
Experiencing the challenges and benefits of adapting to another culture and language motivated him to prioritize travel with his family, and they toured extensively in Scandinavia, Europe, China, Japan, Iceland, Russia, and Hawaii and Alaska.
Three decades after his first Fulbright, Art again returned to Norway as a Fulbright Research Scholar at the University of Oslo, continuing his work on granitic plutons. Later, his three grandchildren were joyfully added to the family group on international trips. Through the final weeks of his life, Art read Norway’s main newspapers online every morning.
A rigorous and eagle-eyed editor, he oversaw publication of the Geological Society of America’s journal, The Bulletin, for five years.
More than anything in his professional life, he loved teaching, and was honored for it many times over, receiving the University of California’s President’s Award for Excellence in Undergraduate Research Mentoring (1995), and the UCSB Academic Senate’s Award for Distinguished Teaching in the Mathematical, Physical, and Life Sciences (1997).
The UCSB graduate students in geology honored him with their Faculty Member of the Year award in 1999, and the undergraduate students did so, too, in 2000.
After retirement, Art extended his leadership to his community, including serving as vice president of a model railroader club, and president of the Santa Barbara County Genealogical Society during its capital campaign for reconstruction of the Sahyun Genealogical Library, overseeing the construction as project manager.
He became an FAA certified small drone pilot, helping ecologists understand habitat recovery following wildfires. He also wrote three books: “Roadside Geology of Southern California,” published with Libby Gans in 2016; “Geology Underfoot in Southern California” (2nd ed.), published with Allen Glazner and Robert Sharp in 2020; and “Geology Underfoot in Death Valley and Eastern California” (2nd ed.), with Allen Glazner and Robert Sharp in 2023.
Art relished the world around him, cultivating an array of hobbies from pasta-making, fly-fishing, and marathon-running to storm-chasing, woodworking, and piano-playing.
He was a keen poker and bridge player; an enthusiastic dancer; spoke four languages fluently; loved classical music, especially when it featured an oboe; and cheered on his favorite sports teams UCLA men’s basketball and Santa Barbara City College women’s volleyball.
He was a playful storyteller, deploying his eclectic collection of folksongs and eerie tales around campfires to the delight of his grandchildren and generations of students and 4-Hers.
Art’s seminal 1988 paper “Strike-slip faults” was selected in June 2021 as one of 48 “Must-Read” papers by the Tectonics and Structural Geology Division of the European Geosciences Union, and regarded as the first of its kind on the topic.
With characteristic humility and good humor, he remarked: “Egad, I wrote this paper 33 long years ago, and to learn that it is still relevant is quite satisfying and not a little astonishing.”
In 2023, Art was awarded a Career Contribution Award by the Geological Society of America’s Structure and Tectonics Division. It was presented posthumously at the Cordilleran Section Meeting in Reno, Nevada, where conference sessions honored and focused on Art’s vast geologic research.
Art is survived by his wife of 62 years Diane; daughters Karin McCarty and Kathryn Bowers; son-in-law Andrew Bowers; grandchildren Connor McCarty, Caroline McCarty, and Emma Bowers; younger sisters Virginia Howe and Aileen Zanteson; and by many friends and family. He was predeceased by his parents and by his son-in-law, Brian McCarty.
Gifts in his memory may be made to UCSB’s Arthur G. Sylvester Summer Field Fund, www.geol.ucsb.edu/giving, which offsets summer field course fees for deserving undergraduate students.