Richard “Dick” Sewell Fiske died on June 18th in Seattle, Washington, after a long battle with dementia and short battle with pneumonia. Patricia “Pat” Leach Fiske, was at his side, just as she had been throughout their 66-year marriage.

Dick grew up in Baltimore, Maryland, the middle child of Franklin S. Fiske Jr. and Evelyn Sewell Fiske. An explorer at heart, little Dickie papered his bedroom walls with National Geographic maps and dreamed of sailing the islands of the Caribbean. Dick’s fascination with exotic locations was also fueled by his father, who had an unusual explorer’s streak and took the family on long car trips (on pre-Eisenhower roads) to see famous natural wonders like the Badlands and Yellowstone National Park.

Dick also learned his work ethic from his father, the owner of Fiskes Caterers – famous for their intricate ice cream sculptures that young Dickie and his brother Frank assisted in assembling, painting (in a walk-in freezer), and delivering to the notable families of Baltimore. He had numerous adventures with his cousins and neighborhood friends (did you know in those days children could buy 1 lb. chunks of sodium metal immersed in mineral oil from a chemical supply store in downtown Baltimore?) and had summer adventures in Alliquippa Camp in Maine. His interest in science was sparked by his grandmother who took him to occasional lectures at the Maryland Academy of Sciences.

Dick went to the Baltimore Friends School where he vaguely knew his future spouse (“Pattie Leach”) when he was a senior lacrosse mid-fieldman, and she was a witty and intellectual freshman. Dick went to Princeton University, graduating with his BSE in 1954 and MSE in Geological Engineering in 1955 under the supervision of Prof. Bill Bonini (P ’47). Dick spent an extraordinary summer working for Socony Mobil Oil Company in Venezuela (a connection provided by a pair of adventurous mentors (dubious characters, according to his parents) Morris and Dorothy Kamen-Kaye.

After serving his country for a brief stint in the Coast and Geodetic Survey, Dick pursued a PhD at Johns Hopkins, mapping the geology of Mt. Rainier. under the guidance of Profs. Cliff Hopson and Aaron Waters. A chance cafeteria encounter with Patty (now “Pat”, she corrected him) rekindled their friendship, and soon a whirlwind courtship led to marriage and a shared field season in a trailer at Mount Rainier.

In 1959 the newlyweds sailed from Long Beach aboard the freighter Saga Maru to Tokyo, where Dick became one of the first American geoscience postdocs at the University of Tokyo under the guidance of Prof. Hisashi Kuno. Pat and Dick had a magical experience in Japan – traveling to temples and onsens, discovering extraordinary new food and art. Japan. The many friends and colleagues they have there remain a lifelong bond.

Dick returned to the U.S. and Baltimore for a final postdoc year at Hopkins where their daughter, Anne was born. Indifferent to a career in academia, Dick joined the U.S. Geological Survey, then headquartered in downtown Washington D.C. The young couple lived in McLean Gardens in NW Washington DC. A two-year assignment to the Hawai‘i Volcano Observatory (HVO) gave Dick a front-row seat to active eruptions at Kīlauea and Mauna Loa and sparked pioneering studies of volcano deformation with colleagues such as Bob Tilling and Tom Wright. Son Peter was born in Hilo in 1966. The Fiskes moved back to the DC area and bought a house in Wood Acres, right outside the District.

Never possessed of strong boundaries between work and family life, Dick took his family with him on research expeditions to California’s Sierra Nevada, Hawaii, and the Caribbean. From 1968 to 1978, the Fiskes hopped in their reliable red station wagon every summer and drove across the country from Bethesda, Maryland to Mammoth Lakes, California where Dick conducted extensive research in the Eastern Sierra Nevada - the Ritter Range. Whereas active volcanoes continuously hide each layer of ash and lava beneath younger layers, in the Ritter Range, a near-continuous section of subaerial (erupted on land) and subaqueous (erupted under water) volcanic deposits were tilted on their side and preserved with spectacular glacially-polished exposure. Dick and his many colleagues, most notably U.C. Santa Cruz Structural Geologist Othmar Tobisch, and Smithsonian Institution Metamorphic Petrologist Sorena Sorensen studied the metavolcanic and metasedimentary rocks of the Ritter Range and illuminated the details of volcanic and metamorphic processes in a series of scientific publications.

In 1976, Dick moved to the Smithsonian Institution’s Department of Mineral Sciences in the National Museum of Natural History (NMNH) and rose to become Director of the NMNH from 1980 to 1986. He remained active in research and published books and scientific articles with numerous colleagues – most notable coauthoring the centennial anniversary account of the 1883 eruption of Krakatau volcano with Tom Simkin and conducting extensive studies of rare explosive eruptions on the island of Hawai’i with Tim Rose. Dick's lifetime collaboration with his Japanese colleagues was honored in 2017 when he received the Geological Society of Japan's International Prize - an honor for which he was extremely proud.

A skilled and engaging public lecturer, Dick presented more than 150 talks before scientific and lay audiences, often using creative and unexpected methods of illustration, most notably casting a large model volcano in clear Jell-O to demonstrate the interrelationship of gravitational stress and the pathway of magmatic flows. He received formal recognition from the American Geological Institute for outstanding contributions for the public understanding of the geosciences. Dick continued his active research career into retirement, publishing innovative studies on volcanology, the latest of which was published in 2019.

Dick and Pat moved to Seattle Washington permanently in 2012 to be close to their daughter Anne and family in Seattle and closer to Peter and his family in Oakland, California. Dick showed early indications of dementia about 10 years ago, with symptoms of memory loss and reduced physical mobility and agility. COVID lockdown and the isolation was particularly damaging for Dick. Post-COVID, Dick’s mobility, cognition, and his overall motivation for movement and engagement continued to decline. Pat and Dick moved to an Assisted Living apartment nearby in 2024, but this did not arrest Dick’s further decline. A bathroom fall in April precipitated a trip to the ER and subsequent discharge to a Skilled Nursing facility. Pat’s constant support and care made Dick’s remaining months much more comfortable and happy. Dick contracted pneumonia 10 days ago and was unable to recover.

Dick’s daughter, Anne, died in 2024 after a long battle with an autoimmune disease. He is survived by Pat, his son Peter, four grandchildren (Petra, Gabriel, Elizabeth, and Alexandra) and extended family and numerous colleagues and friends. We grieve his death but rejoice in the adventure, insight, humor and service that composed his rich life.

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