Funeral service for Daniel F. Merriam, 90, Lawrence will be 10 am. Monday at the First Baptist Church. Interment will follow at Oak Hill Cemetery. The family will receive friends from 9 am to service time Monday at the church. He died Wednesday at his home.
He married Annie Laura Young on Feb. 12, 1946 in Philadelphia, PA. She survives of the home. Others survivors include his children, John, Anita, James, and Judith, 5 sisters, and 1 brother. He was preceded in death by his parents and a son Daniel Francis Merriam II.
Daniel was a Navy veteran of WWII.
He was a Senior Scientist with the Kansas Geological Survey at the University of Kansas. He was educated in the U.S. at the University of Kansas (BS, MS, PhD) with a minor in archaeology and in Europe at the University of Leicester (England) (MSc and DSc). In addition to his research at the KGS, he had worked for Union Oil Company and been a distinguished professor and head of the Department of Geology at Syracuse University and Wichita State University; he was also an Adjunct Professor at Emporia State University (Kansas). Merriam also had been a visiting scientist at Stanford University, Leicester University, Dartmouth College, University of Sydney (Australia), Ecole des Mines (France), and GeoForschungsZentrum Potsdam (Germany). He was an Honorary Member of American Association of Petroleum Geologists, Society of Sedimentary Geology, International Association for Mathematical Geology, Kansas Geological Society, and Sigma Gamma Epsilon; a Senior Fellow of the Geological Society of America and a Fellow of the Geological Society of London. He received a gold medal from Hornická Pŕibram (Czechoslovakia) (1970), appointed to the U.S. National Commission for the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization by the Secretary of State (1979) awarded the Krumbein Medal from the IAMG (1981), William Smith Medal from the Geological Society of London (1992), and Haworth Distinguished Alumni Honors in Geology from KU (1995) in addition to presidential citations and certificates of recognition, appreciation, or merit from several professional organizations. He had published more than 300 books, scientific articles, and notes mostly on the geology of the U.S. Midcontinent, and Kansas in particular. Most recently he was Historian for the Department of Geology at KU and the Kansas Geological Survey as well as the Historian and Archivist for the IAMG.
Memorials may be made to the Daniel F. Merriam Scholarship Fund at the Kansas University or Syracuse University or the Daniel F. Merriam Fellowship at Wichita State University in care of the Rumsey-Yost Funeral Home, Box 1260, Lawrence, KS 66044.
I was lucky enough to get to meet this great man and help take care of him throughout the last few years, Annie I am so sorry for your loss, my prayers are with you.
I knew Dr.Daniel from work. He was such a great person. I am truly sorry for your loss. You have my condolences and my prayers during this hard time.
Dr. Daniel F. Merriam was my thesis advisor for my Master’s degree at Wichita State University and for my doctoral dissertation at the University of Cincinnati. It is because of his kind heart and infinite wisdom that I became successful in my profession. He was my second father and I named my daughter after him in 2004. I will always remember him as a great man and confidante. There will never be another Dan Merriam. His legacy in geology will live forever.