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Our dear friend
Andrew Grebneff
from New Zealand
passed away in
Mexico on July
7th.
Below is part
of a message
sent by Dr. Ewan
Fordyce, Head
of Department
of Geology, University
of Otago, New
Zealand, which
describes well
Andrew’s
professionalism.
“Andrew
Grebneff worked
here in the Department
of Geology, University
of Otago, as
a fossil preparator
since 1985, on
rolling short
term contracts.
He had consuming
interests in
paleontology,
and in the study
of molluscs.
He was an exceptionally
skilled preparator,
meeting the highest
international
standards. His
work has underpinned
research carried
out by past and
present postgraduate
students. Andrew
prepared material
that has been
displayed at
Otago Museum
(the Southern
Lands gallery
fossils), Museum
of NZ, Vanished
World, the GNS-Dead
Precious touring
exhibition, Fukui
Prefectural Dinosaur
Museum, National
Museum of Nature
and Science -
Tokyo, and National
Museum of Natural
History - Smithsonian.
As a paleontologist
and preparator
at this Department,
and as a field
collector, he
met and worked
with many professionals
- scientific
visitors, senior
students, overseas
scientists -
in some cases
for years. Although
he was normally
reticent in class
situations, he
contributed enthusiastically
to undergraduate
field classes
in paleontology
and stratigraphy.
Dr. Ewan Fordyce”
Besides the professional
area, Andrew
was a passionate
shell and fossil
collector. He
used his professional
skills on his
collection as
well: always
made sure the
identification
of all shells
was correct before
placing them
on his collection.
I went to Dunedin
two times and
he took me to
his secret collecting
spots and we
had a lot of
fun trying to
find nice shells.
(see the articles
here: 2006
and 2009)
He leaves his
wife Kala and
two children,
Aden and Karishma.
As he did not
have any life
insurance, his
family will have
to struggle to
spend almost
US$8,000 to repatriate
his body from
Mexico, plus
funeral expenses
in New Zealand.
A bank account
was opened so
friends could
donate to help
his wife Kala
on this difficult
time.
We from Femorale
will really appreciate
if you can send
anything, no
matter how much
you can send.
Please contact
me by e-mail
so I can pass
the account details,
or if you prefer
to donate a small
amount we can
manage to send
some other way
to avoid bank
fees.
In behalf
of Mrs. Grebneff
we would like
to thank the
following donors:
Olivier Caro
- France; Tiziano
Trazzi - Italy;
Sandra Herman
- USA; Steve
Rosenthal - USA;
Arie Janssen
- Malta; Jacobus
Kloos - Holland;
Bruce Neville
- USA; Fabio
Moretzsohn -
USA; Thomas Eichhorst
- USA; Vicky
Wall - USA; Roland
Houart - Belgium;
Bernd Sahlman
- Germany; Carlos
Afonso - Portugal;
Bill Lyons -
USA; Amy Dick
- USA; Harry
Lee - USA; Scott
Lewis - USA;
Markus Niiranen
- Finland; And
one anonymous
from USA; Rick
Harbo - USA;
Phil Liff-Grieff
- USA; Geoff
Macaulay - Australia
Thanks
Marcus
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