John Calvin Reed Jr. Digital Collection, 1953-2014

John C. “Jack” Reed, Jr. was born on July 24, 1930. Reed was a field geologist specializing in regional geologic mapping, regional geology, and structural geology. He obtained his PhD from Johns Hopkins University in geology in 1954 and was employed by the US Geological Survey first as a rodman and geologic field assistant (1946-1953) then as a full-time geologist (1953-1997). He later became a Scientist Emeritus with an office at the USGS in the Denver Federal Center. Reed worked in Alaska mapping the rocks in Mount McKinley National Park, in North Carolina mapping the Grandfather Mountain window area, and in Wyoming mapping the basement rocks of the Grand Teton National Park. He took on a number of administrative assignments including Chief of the Eastern Branch, USGS (1965-1969), Chief of the Office of Environmental Geology, USGS (1974-1979), and Chief of the Branch of Central Regional Geology (1994-1995). He completed his career as a geologist in the Central Regional Geology Branch of the USGS in Denver, where he produced a geologic map of North America and edited the Decade of North American Geology volume on Precambrian rocks of the conterminous U.S. Reed also coauthored a book for the general reader titled “Creation of the Teton Landscape” initially with J. David Love and in the third edition also with Kenneth Pierce. Reed was also an accomplished technical climber. He is credited with a number of first ascents in the Teton Range, and in 2009 wrote a book for hikers and climbers on the geology of the “14ers” in Colorado.