Joseph A. Mandarino

Joseph A. Mandarino
Born (1929-04-20)April 20, 1929
Chicago, Illinois, USA
Died September 19, 2007(2007-09-19) (aged 78)
Toronto, Ontario, Canada
Citizenship Canadian
Nationality American
Alma mater University of Michigan
Thesis  (1958)
Known for Gladstone–Dale relation
Notable awards Order of Canada
Spouse Joan (née Cady) Mandarino

Joseph (Joe) Anthony Mandarino OC, FRSC (born on 20 April 1929 in Chicago, Illinois, died on 19 September 2007) American-Canadian mineralogist and crystallographer.

Life

Joseph Anthony Mandarino was born into an Italian-American family and was the son of Bruno Mandarino and Rose (née Salvo) Mandarino 20 April 1929 in Chicago, Illinois.

Known for having a "wit as sharp as the crystals he studied" and a "biting sense of humour", he was not shy about speaking his mind and little tolerance for sloppy work. However, he was always supportive of those that made efforts contribute whether professional or amateur. He would frequently speak at mineral clubs, do mineral identification for collectors and was even the President of the Walker Mineralogical Club in Toronto. To encourage young people to study mineralogy he established the Mandarino Prize providing financial awards to both undergraduate and graduate students for the best papers presented at the Rochester Mineralogical Symposium (RMS).

Mandarino’s interest in minerals began when he was a school child collecting rocks around the Chicago area. Encouraged by one of his schoolteachers he would make trips to see the mineral collection at the Field Museum of Natural Sciences. By the age of 18 he had already published articles on minerals in the Rocks and Minerals magazine.

Mandarino received his B.Sc. in 1950 and his M.Sc. in 1951 from Michigan Technological University in Houghton, Michigan. Following the completion of his studies at Michigan Tech he initially worked as a mineralogist for the Allis-Chalmers Manufacturing Company in Milwaukee, Wisconsin. From 1952 until 1954 he served as a First Lieutenant in the USAF (including a stint in Goose Bay, Labrador). Subsequently, in 1957, he returned to Michigan Tech to take up the position of Assistant Professor of Mineralogy. He subsequently completed his Ph.D. at the University of Michigan at Ann Arbor in 1958.

The year after completing his PhD, he was Curator of Mineralogy at the Royal Ontario Museum in Toronto causing him to emigrate to Canada in 1959. He ultimately became the Curator-in-Charge of Mineralogy until 1980 when he voluntarily left to concentrate more on research and teaching at the University of Toronto (1980 to 1991). However, he returned as an Acting Associate Director Curatorial in 1990 and finally "retired" from the museum in 1994.

From 1968 to 1969 he was a Senior Research Fellow of the National Research Council of Canada. For three years he was president of the Mineralogical Association of Canada (MAC) from 1973 to 1975. He was also a member of the Joint Committee on Powder Diffraction Standards. In 1983 he took over from Michael Fleischer as Chairman of the Commission on New Minerals, Nomenclature and Classification (CNMNC) (former Commission on New Minerals and Mineral Names (CNMMN)) of the International Mineralogical Association until 1994 and was subsequently Chairman Emeritus until his death.

He is best known for creating (together with Ernest Nickel) the IMA rules for the naming of new mineral species and for his further development of the Gladstone–Dale relation creating the "compatibility index" required under IMA rules for the approval of new mineral species. He also created the IMA "check-list" used by all mineralogist who wish to submit a new species for recognition. This was in line with his lifelong interest in mineral taxonomy. He was constantly checking data related to how minerals were named on his work with Michael Fleischer on the "Glossary of Mineral Species" through many editions. He wrote both several books as well as many technical papers such as on Gladstone-Dale to more popular articles on such topics as minerals that were first discovered in China, for example.

He made 17 first descriptions of minerals including barićite, denningite, hydroromarchite, keilite, kulanite, romarchite, marićite, and walfordite. Yet through his work on setting the rules for IMA submissions, his influence on the naming of new species continues to this day.

Honours

Selected publications

References

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