Memorial to Gerhard Friedrich Lutze (1932-2009)

Gerhard Friedrich Lutze was born in Braunschweig, Germany, on 12 April 1932 to Hildegard and Paul Gustav Friedrich Lutze who was an electronic engineer. Gerd attended the Wilhelm-Gymnasium and reformed Oberrealschule in Braunschweig. He moved up a year because he was an extremely gifted student, and graduated from a class of five students. Gerd studied at the Universities of Tubingen and Braunschweig. At the latter, Professor Paul Dorn proposed that Gerd pursue the doctoral thesis in which he established a foraminiferal and ostracodal biostratigraphy for Lower Saxony (NW Germany) that closely correlated with the existing ammonite zonation. While pursuing his doctorate, Gerd developed and maintained contact with biostratigraphers and micropaleontologists in oil companies and at the Bundesanstalt fur Bodenforschung, Hanover, among which were Franz Bettenstaedt, Helmut Bartenstein, and Heinrich Hiltermann, and his first wife Brunhilde Grabert. He also became acquainted with Inge and Eugen Seibold in Tubingen. In discussions about his doctoral research, Gerd often emphasized the importance of the applicability of micro-fossil biostratigraphy to commercial needs, as well as his affection for the scientific approach. Upon completion of his thesis in January 1958, Gerd was awarded the title doctor rerum naturarum , and then became a postdoctoral research assistant (“Wissenschaftlicher Assistent”) at the Geological Institute of the University of Braunschweig. From there he left for Los Angeles, having been awarded a fellowship of the German Research Foundation (DFG) to work at the …