William Bayard Heroy Jr. *41

William Bayard Heroy Jr., a business geologist who later joined Southern Methodist University, died Sept. 25, 2006. He was 91. He had resided at The Forest at Duke in Durham, N.C., for 14 years.

Earning a bachelor's degree Phi Beta Kappa from Dartmouth in 1937, Heroy received his Ph.D. in geology from Princeton in 1941. During World War II, he worked in the southwest for Texaco and then for the Geotechnical Corp. in Dallas from 1945 to 1965, rising to president of the company. After Geotech was bought by Teledyne, he was group executive assistant to its president.

Heroy later went to Southern Methodist University, where he served as vice president-treasurer. He was then head of its Institute for the Study of Earth and Man, until retiring in 1982 as professor emeritus.

He was treasurer of the Geological Society of America for many years and president of the American Geological Institute, both of which honored him for his service.

Heroy is survived by Dorothy, his wife of 70 years; four children; seven grandchildren; and four great-grandchildren.