Richard A. Reyment (1926-2016) - Ammonitologist sensu latissimo and founder of Cretaceous Research

Richard Reyment was born in Australia in 1926 in a family with roots in England, Ireland, Sweden and Spain. At the age of 22 he emigrated to Sweden, where he married Eva Regina, with whom he had two daughters (and two stepchildren). His career as a geologist started with 6 years at the Geological Survey of Nigeria (1950-1956), followed by a Ph.D. and seven years as senior lecturer at Stockholm University (1956-1962), two years as professor at the University of Ibadan in Nigeria (1963-1965), and a further two years as associate professor at Stockholm University (1965-1967). In 1967 he was appointed to the Chair of Historical Geology and Palaeontology at Uppsala University, a position he held until his retirement at the end of 1991. As professor emeritus he continued his research, based at the Swedish Museum of Natural History in Stockholm, and enjoyed several visiting professorships at various universities around the world, notably in Japan. Richard is well known for his work on Cretaceous ammonites, ostracods and the history of the South Atlantic Ocean, but these research topics represent only a part of his wide scope of research, as shown by his 450 publications, including twelve books. His major field of research was mathematical geology, particularly quantitative and statistical methods and multivariate morphometrics, which he applied to a variety of material and topics in the Earth Sciences but also to biology, genetics, linguistics, Romanis and Spanish Moors. His interest in mathematical geology arose from early contacts with the Finnish palaeontologist Björn Kurtén and the Soviet mathematical geologist Andrei B. Vistelius. Richard was undoubtedly one of the pioneers in using multivariate techniques in palaeontology. He was the prime mover for the International Association for Mathematical Geology, founded in 1968, and co-founder of the journal Computers & Geosciences, in 1990. In 1974 Richard initiated the successful IGCP Project 'Mid-Cretaceous Events' (MCE), which counted around 350 participants during its eleven years of activity. As an outcome of the MCE project, in 1980 he founded the journal Cretaceous Research. Richard was elected a fellow of several learned societies, such as the Royal Statistical Society (London), the Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences, and the Brazilian Academy of Sciences. His numerous awards included the Swedish Order of the Polar Star, the Assar Hadding Prize of the Royal Physiographic Society of Lund, the Krumbein Medal and a Special Commendation of the International Association for Mathematical Geology, the State Medal in Silver of Israel, and the Björkén Prize of Uppsala University. Besides research, Richard also found time for his many hobbies, such as music, languages and genealogy. All in all, Richard's career, spanning nearly seven decades, can only be described as one of outstanding scope and productivity.