James J. Norton ’40

Jim died at Rapid City (S.D.) Regional Hospital Nov. 16, 2005.

He prepared at Phillips Exeter Academy. At Princeton, he majored in geology, graduating with highest honors and as a member of Sigma Xi and Phi Beta Kappa. He earned a master's from Northwestern University in 1942 and a Ph.D. from Columbia in 1957. From 1944 to 1946, Jim served as a Navy lieutenant in the Pacific theater, mostly in the Philippines.

His geology career began in 1942 with the U.S. Geological Survey and ended with his retirement in 1984. He served as a manager and branch chief, among other positions, in many locations, including Custer, S.D.; Washington, D.C.; Jiddah, Saudi Arabia; Denver, Colo.; and Rapid City, S.D. But his home in Rapid City and cabin in the Black Hills of South Dakota kept calling him back to the area where he had met and married Katherine Martens in 1946.

Jim also was the author of several publications in his field of geology.

His classmates wish to extend their sincere condolences to his surviving sister, Jeanette Bartram, and brother, Phil Norton.

The Class of 1940