John Sydney Mothersill

John Sydney Mothersill
J. S. Mothersill
Yearbook portrait, 1967
Born	1931-03-24 Ottawa, Ontario
Died	2024-12-09 Victoria, British Columbia
Years in Thunder Bay	by 1967–at least 1980 (Lakehead yearbooks)
Occupation	Geologist, university professor and administrator
Employer	Lakehead University; Royal Roads Military College
Partner	Diane (wife of John Sydney Mothersill)
Children	John Edward Mothersill

John Sydney Mothersill (March 24, 1931 – December 9, 2024), usually printed as J. S. Mothersill or John S. Mothersill, was a geologist who taught at Lakehead University in Thunder Bay from the mid-1960s, became its Dean of Science in 1975, and later served as the last principal of Royal Roads Military College in Victoria, British Columbia.

Early life and education

He was born in Ottawa, Ontario. According to his obituary he attended Lisgar Collegiate, graduated from the Royal Military College of Canada in Kingston with the class of 1952, took a science degree in physics and mathematics at Carleton University in 1953, and a science degree in geological engineering at Queen's University in 1956. After a career in the oil industry he returned to Queen's and completed a Ph.D. in geology in 1964.

Career

Oil industry

Before his doctorate he worked as an exploration geologist in Africa for Standard Oil, and then as a senior geologist for Mobil International Oil in Turkey, Nigeria, France and Colombia. Lakehead's geology journals repeat this background.

Lakehead University

He settled in Thunder Bay in 1966 as an associate professor of geology at Lakehead University, though the 1967 and 1968 Lakehead yearbooks list him as an assistant professor. By 1975 he was Dean of Science, a post he still held in the 1978 and 1980 geology journals; the 1978 journal records a congratulatory message from him as dean. His research centred on Lake Superior and the other Great Lakes: the 1971 journal credits him with limnogeological work on sediments in the eastern Lake Superior basin, the 1978 journal with paleomagnetic and sedimentary studies of cores from the Thunder Bay basin, and the 1980 journal with late-Quaternary studies in lakes Superior and Huron and at Batchawana Bay. In 1972 he also appears as a reader at the University of Nigeria. He and his wife later took cores in the Great Lakes and in the lakes of West Africa and presented papers abroad.

Royal Roads and later life

In 1984 he and Diane moved to Victoria, where he became principal of Royal Roads Military College. He worked to broaden its programs and support students, and as federal budget decisions ended the military college he became its last principal, overseeing the change to Royal Roads University in 1995. Other service named in the obituary includes the executive committee of the Council of Deans of Arts and Science of Ontario, the chair of the Ontario Graduate Scholarship Board, the Protection and Conservation Advisory Committee of Capital Regional District Parks in Victoria, and the Royal Roads Military Heritage Committee. Former colleagues and classmates who left condolences remembered him as a calm and capable leader, and a classmate recalled him as a fine boxer at the Royal Military College.

Family

• Wife: Diane.
• Son: John Edward Mothersill (1971–1999), his only son, whose mother is recorded as Valerie Ann Dennison. He died in a car accident; a scholarship in philosophy was later set up in his memory at the University of Victoria (see Edward Mothersill Scholarship in Philosophy).
• Sister: Joan, who died in 2021.
• Stepchildren: Bill and his wife Marita; Jane and her husband Carmine.
• Grandchildren: William, Michael, Nigel and Simon; great-granddaughter Erin.

He was also remembered as a golfer and animal lover; the family asked for donations to the BC SPCA or the Victoria Humane Society.

Notes

• The 1971 geology journal's separate "John S. Mothersill" listing (the author of the Lake Superior limnogeology article, which begins on the page of his staff entry) was merged into this page.
• He is not the same person as his son, John Edward Mothersill; the two differ in middle name and generation.

Lakehead University, 1967

Year	School	Program	Role	Hometown	Clubs and teams	Source
1967	Lakehead University	Assistant Professor of Geology	Staff			p. 30

Lakehead University, 1968

Yearbook portrait, 1968

Year	School	Program	Role	Hometown	Clubs and teams	Source
1968	Lakehead University	Assistant Professor of Geology	Staff			p. 30

• Roles named: Assistant Professor of Geology.

Geology Journal, 1971

Portrait, 1971

Year	School	Program	Role	Hometown	Clubs and teams	Source
1971	Lakehead University		Staff			p. 15

• Described in the yearbook: He is a geologist with a Ph.D. from Queen's University who previously worked for Standard Oil and Mobil International in various countries.
• Author of "Limnogeological Studies of the Eastern Part of the Lake Superior Basin": a study of the mineral make-up of sediments in the eastern Lake Superior basin, with a map of sand and clay-silt distribution; the article starts on the page of his staff entry and continues on the next.
• Described in the yearbook: He supervised limnological studies of Lake Superior.
• Named in the write-up "President's Message": Patrick Fung provides a brief history of the Lakehead University Geology Club from its 1968 founding to the 1970-71 academic year. He highlights the club's participation in geological conferences in Ottawa and Queen's University and credits faculty and students for the creation of the first Geology Year Book.

Geology Journal, 1972

Portrait, 1972

Year	School	Program	Role	Hometown	Clubs and teams	Source
1972	Lakehead University	Associate Professor of Lakehead University, Reader of University of Nigeria	Staff			p. 14

• Awards and honours: B.Sc. (Physics) (Carleton University); B.Sc. (Geological Engineering) (Queen's University); Ph.D. (Geology) (Queen's University).
• Described in the yearbook: He is an Associate Professor at Lakehead University with a background in the oil industry and research interests in limnology and stratigraphy.
• Named in the write-up "Drafting Technician Report": Samuel T. Spivak describes the extensive map library of the Geology Department, which includes coverage of Canada, Australia, and the moon. He details the drafting services provided for faculty projects, such as a field guide for the 24th International Geological Congress and a relief model of the region from Marathon to Atikokan.
• Named in the write-up "First Year Geology Laboratory": First-year geology students use comprehensive sets of minerals, rocks, and fossils to learn identification and classification rules. The laboratory manual, written by Dr. J. Mothersill, guides students through tests for hardness and cleavage, as well as the study of fossils, structural geology, and geological maps.
• Named in the write-up "Geochemistry Laboratory Report": Don Murray describes the equipment and functions of the geology research labs in rooms CB 0021 and CB 0004. The facility is used by faculty and fourth-year students for geochemical analyses, including atomic absorption spectrophotometry.
• Named in the write-up "Student Profiles": Biographical sketches of geology students including their academic interests and summer work experience in 1971.

Geology Journal, 1978

Portrait, 1978

Year	School	Program	Role	Hometown	Clubs and teams	Source
1978	Lakehead University	Dean of Science of Lakehead University, Associate Professor of Lakehead University	Staff

• Described in the yearbook: He wrote a message congratulating the yearbook staff and wishing the Geology Club success.
• Described in the yearbook: He is a geologist with extensive international experience in the oil industry who has been at Lakehead since 1966 and Dean of Science since 1975.
• Named in the write-up "Message from the Dean of Science": Dean John S. Mothersill (Faculty of Science) congratulates the yearbook editor and staff for restarting the Geology Year Book series and emphasizes the importance of extracurricular social development.
• Named in the write-up "Paleomagnetic and Sedimentary Research in Thunder Bay": This report details the collection and analysis of Alpine piston cores from the post-glacial basin of Thunder Bay to study paleomagnetic directions and sedimentation rates. The research involved sample testing at the University of Edinburgh and the use of radiocarbon dating to correlate data across the Lake Superior region.

Geology Journal, 1980

Portrait, 1980

Year	School	Program	Role	Hometown	Clubs and teams	Source
1980	Lakehead University	Dean of Faculty of Science, Dean of Science of Lakehead University, Professor of Lakehead University	Staff

• Awards and honours: B.Sc. (Physics, Mathematics); B.Sc. (Geological Engineering); Ph.D..
• Described in the yearbook: He provides a congratulatory message to the editor and staff of the Geology Yearbook, noting its importance as a record of student life.
• Described in the yearbook: He is a former exploration geologist for Standard Oil and Mobil International who became the Dean of Science at Lakehead University in 1975.
• Named in the write-up "Message from the Dean of Science": The Dean of Science commends the Geology Yearbook staff for documenting the academic and social lives of geology students at Lakehead University, noting it is one of only two discipline-level yearbooks at the school.
• Named in the write-up "Research Summary": Dr. Mothersill describes his research involving late-Quaternary paleomagnetic and sedimentologic studies in the Great Lakes region, specifically Lake Superior, Lake Huron, and Batchawana Bay.