Art Socolow, former State Geologist of Pennsylvania, died on March 25.
REFLECTIONS
ON ARTHUR A. SOCOLOW
by
Thomas M. Berg
I first met Arthur A. Socolow in
late 1964 when I came from the University of Colorado for a job interview at
the Pennsylvania Geological Survey. Much
to my great pleasure and satisfaction, Art hired me to do geologic mapping in
the bituminous coalfields. I didn’t
think I would stay at that first job for more than a few years, but it lasted
for twenty-four. I worked my way up from
that first field-mapping position to become Associate State Geologist under Don
Hoskins. During the 21 years I worked
under Art Socolow, I got to know him pretty well.
Art was a man of strong commitments
and opinions. He was committed to public
service and expected the same of those who worked with him. He felt that all who worked in government
owed the taxpayers a full-day’s work for a full-day’s pay. Art valued traditional scientific principles
and frequently adhered to long-held geological ideas that were being challenged
by revolutionary concepts. For example,
he was initially reluctant to accept the notion of plate tectonics in reports
of the Pennsylvania Survey, but eventually he came around.
Art also was a man of contrasting manners. In public, and in most personal settings, he was
kind, polite, sympathetic, and good-humored.
He never condoned foul language or off-color jokes. In the 21 years I worked with him, I never
heard Art use a four-letter word. In
secluded meetings, when risqué jokes started, I could see that Art was very
uncomfortable. In many private settings,
Art Socolow could be severe, bold, aggressive, and tough. He really knew how to handle himself in an
argument, and you needed to have your act together to win.
Art had a very good understanding of
what a state geological survey should be.
His conviction, as I saw it, was that the state survey should discern
and provide practical, applied-geology information to help citizens solve
everyday problems about mineral, water, and energy resources. He wanted the staff to produce information
about engineering characteristics of rocks, geologic hazards, land use, and
environmental attributes. Although some
state surveys are lodged in universities, Art was not inclined toward that
administrative structure. He did not see
the work of a survey oriented toward purely academic research. “High science” was not the responsibility of
the state geological survey. I believe
Art saw the agency as a bridge to carry pure-research results to meet the
practical needs of citizens.
Staff dedication to the work of the
Pennsylvania Survey was very important to Art Socolow. He had interesting ways of showing his
appreciation for dedication which were sometimes humorous. He always worked late after closing of the
office. I got into that habit too, when
working on the new statewide geologic map.
One evening, when I had maps spread all over the floor—trying to work
out some structure contours—Art stopped by my office. He looked the situation over and said two
words: “Elephants remember.” In his self-deprecating reference to his own
girth, he expressed his appreciation to me.
Art always expected staff members to
be on their good behavior in the field.
But privately, I think he understood mistakes. Once when Art and I were traveling in a state
car through the Philadelphia region, he suddenly remembered a special outcrop
he wanted to show me. He missed the turn
to the outcrop, slammed on the brakes, did a “U” turn, and drove up over the
curb in the process. I can remember him
saying, “Edith would kill me if I did that in the family car!”
When writing geologic reports, Art
wanted the geologists to use language that was understandable to most ordinary
people. He really didn’t care for the
many multisyllabic words for which geologists have a fondness. When I was Chief of the Geologic Mapping
Division, I remember Art reviewing a manuscript of a geologist in my
division. He had struck out a certain
word that seemed too complicated. The
author saw the strikeout and scrawled “stet!” beside the word, meaning to leave
the word as written. Art later saw the stet—and
with a heavy red-wax pencil—scrawled a line through it, redrew his strikeout, and
then wrote, “I’LL STET YOUR STET!!!”
Art never seemed too concerned about
walking into someone’s office unannounced.
I think he got a bit of a kick out of it. One day, I noticed a shadow behind me when I
was working at my desk. I looked around
and saw Art holding a clipboard, and pulling out a tape measure. I asked him if I could help him and he said,
“Nope.” I continued working as Art
measured my desk. I guess he was trying
to solve some kind of space problem.
Although some felt his management
style was sometimes indelicate or thick-skinned, I have no doubt that Art
sincerely cared about all who worked at the Pennsylvania Survey. I know that if Art believed he had offended a
staff member, he would call that person at home and apologize.
When Art was getting ready to retire
in 1986, I asked him what he would miss the most. With little hesitation, he said he would miss
the daily phone calls that he would take from citizens who needed help. He loved to talk with ordinary people who
needed assistance locating a water well, or who couldn’t understand a
problematic foundation condition. Art
Socolow also greatly enjoyed assisting the mineral and energy industries in
Pennsylvania. With his extensive
experience in economic geology, he was an enormous advocate for those
industries.
After I was appointed State
Geologist of Ohio, I attended an annual meeting of the Geological Society of
America in Boston. I called Art in
advance and asked if my wife and I could stop by to visit him and Edith at their
Gloucester home after the Boston meeting.
The Socolows were most gracious and actually put us up for a night at
their retirement house. The next
morning, Art took me out to his favorite Cape Ann beach to collect “pet rocks,”
the wonderful cobbles that had been eroded from the igneous rocks of the Cape
Ann Complex. It was fun to stroll on the
beach with Art and chat about our state-survey experiences.
I will always be grateful to Art
Socolow for his guidance and personal care.
April 30 is the last day to purchase publications on paper from the Pennsylvania Bureau of Topographic and Geologic Survey.
