The following is posted for the son of Demberel Dashzeveg, the Mongolian paleontologist who passed away last month
Dear all,
My father Demberel DASHZEVEG passed way on March 28th 2010. He was born in 1936 in Ero, a town in the Selenge Province of Mongolia. Dr. Dashzeveg taught in the Mongolian University from 1961 to 1963, and then was a scientist in the Mongolian Academy of Sciences (MAS) from 1965 to 2009. Academician Dashzeveg was a member of the Mongolian-Russian Paleontological expedition, the Mongolian-Polish Paleontological expedition, and explored the Gobi Desert for more than 40 years. Dr. Dashzeveg worked as a co-leader of the Mongolian-American Paleontological expedition (MAE) from 1990 to 2007.
Dr. Dashzeveg was a first-rate scientist, who founded the science of paleontology in Mongolia and represented Mongolian paleontology internationally in his scientific writings, his presentations, and as a curator of the Mongolian Paleontological exhibition in Japan 1984-87. The explorations, discoveries, and publications of my father will last as useful testimony to all the paleontologists and geologists of the world, and to the next generation of scientists. The Mongolian people and the Mongolian Government rewarded Dr. Dashzeveg for these achievements by bestowing on him the award of "Honorary Member of Sciences", valuing his high contribution in
paleontology and stratigraphy.
American paleontologist Philip D. Gingerich wrote in a letter to me that "Dashzeveg represented Mongolia and paleontology as a pioneer on an international stage, and he made many great contributions to our subject! It was a privilege and an honor to know him and especially to collaborate in research!" Michael Novacek, Vice President of the AMNH wrote in his book Dinosaurs of the Flaming Cliffs, "Dr. Demberel Dashzeveg, a world-famous paleontologist and our Mongolian colleague, knew the Gobi Desert perhaps better than any person alive. Dashzeveg, a man in his late fifties, was tall and wiry, with the lean and hungry look of a Siberian wolf, the dark wrinkled skin of his face burnished by years of desert winds." All the members of the MAE called my father "the King of the Gobi".
His patriotism, hard work, honesty and friendliness will always remain in our souls and memories.
Ulaanbaatar, April 9nd, 2010
Sainbayar
Via P. David Polly at PaleoNet
