Guy Lortie

Professor Guy Lortie passed away August 2, 1988 at the age of 39. His death was the result of a tragic accident within the context of a scientific expedition in northern Québec.

Guy Lortie received his geological-geomorphological education at the University of Québec (B.Sc., Montréal 1973), McGill University (M.Sc., Montréal 1976) and the University of Paris VI (Ph.D., France 1981). It was during his studies in France that he developed a special interest in diatom analysis. He eventually went on to complete his post-doctoral studies at the University of Montréal (1982-1983). Since 1984, Prof. Lortie has held the position of research attaché at Laval University’s Centre d’Études Nordiques before officially being appointed professor to the Geography Department in the summer of 1988. Guy Lortie’s death not only meant a tremendous loss to his family, friends and colleagues, but also a void that would be felt in the field of science in which he worked with such devotion. In his too short career and with little financial and logistic means, Guy Lortie managed to lay the foundations for diatom paleoecological research in Québec. Guy’s dedication to his research and his careful work has given many Quaternarists and diatomists the incentive to further the research and theories that were often discussed, and will continue to be of significance to all those who intend to carry on with what he has left behind.

Reinhard Pienitz
Associate Professor
Paleolimnology-Paleoecology Laboratory
Centre d’Études Nordiques
Laval University