Ernest F. Roots *49

Ernest Roots, recognized by the Royal Canadian Geographic Society as one of Canada’s greatest explorers, died Oct. 18, 2016, at 93.

Roots graduated from the University of British Columbia with bachelor’s and master’s degrees in geology in 1946 and 1947. In 1949 he earned a Ph.D. in geology from Princeton.

He then joined the Scott Polar Research Institute as chief geologist for the 1949-1952 Norwegian-British-Swedish Antarctic Expedition, the first of innumerable trips to the Arctic and Antarctic, which, among other things, showed that climate change was global and not limited. Returning to Canada, Roots was a field geologist for the Geological Survey of Canada, leaving in 1958 to help found the Canadian government’s Polar Continental Shelf Program.

After 14 years, Roots became the science adviser to the newly created federal Department of the Environment. In 1989, he retired but remained an emeritus adviser. He also helped found Students on Ice, participated in their polar expeditions, and mentored hundreds of students. Among his many honors, in 2016, Roots received the Explorers Club Medal, previously awarded to Sir Edmund Hillary, Roald Amundsen, and Jane Goodall.

Roots is survived by his wife, June; and four of their five children.

Graduate memorials are prepared by the APGA.