Robert M. Hutchinson ’41

Robert M. "Hutch" Hutchinson died Jan. 13, 1999, from injuries sustained in an automobile accident. Hutch was professor emeritus of geology at Colorado School of Mines.

Hutch prepared at Mercer Junior College and the Hun School. At Princeton he was on the baseball team and joined Dial Lodge. He earned his BS in geology and remained an avid Princetonian all his life. During WWII, he served with the Army Corps of Engineers in Trinidad and explored for critical metals with the U.S. Geological Survey. He earned an MA from the U. of Michigan in 1948, and was an instructor at the U. of Texas from 1948-53 while pursuing a PhD there. Hutch taught at Kansas State U. from 1953-56, then came to the Colorado School of Mines. He received several research grants from the National Science Foundation to support a career-long study of the Pikes Peak Batholith, becoming a leading expert in its structure and petrology. He became respected for the quality, detail, and beauty of the maps, surface and underground, which he produced. Hutch retired in 1989 but continued to teach optical mineralogy and underground mine mapping until his death.

He is survived by his wife, Bette, and their children, James, Anne-Elizabeth, Dan, Susan, Marcia, Martha, Brenda, and John, and six grandchildren. To all, the class extends its deep sympathy.

The Class of 1941