Jesuit Geologist Honored for Lifetime Work at Boston College

New England Province Jesuit Fr. James Skehan, SJ, professor emeritus at Boston College, was honored for his lifetime of professional work when the university unveiled a bronze bust in his likeness on the occasion of his 89th birthday.  Fr. Skehan, Jesuit priest, geologist, and author also served as former director of Boston College’s Weston Observatory.

The sculpture was created in clay by local artist Janie Belive, who works at Campion Center in Weston, Mass., where Fr. Skehan is in residence. Vincent J. Murphy, James Lewkowicz and Robert O. Varnerin—longtime friends of Fr. Skehan—commissioned the bronzing of the sculpture. The bust’s base, from the Le Masurier Family Quarry in North Chelmsford, Mass., is made from Chelmsford Granite, one of Fr. Skehan’s favorite rocks. The bust is on display in BC’s Department of Earth and Environmental Sciences, which was founded (as the Department of Geology) by Fr. Skehan in 1958.

Read more on the bust from the Boston College Chronicle.  Jesuit magazine also published a feature on Fr. Skehan.

In 2005, Fr. Skehan was presented with AIPG’s most distinguished award, the Ben H. Parker Memorial Medal, for his long record of outstanding service to the profession.