Our understanding of Cretaceous foraminifera as biological entities, proxies for changing environments, and as keepers of geologic time, grew by leaps and bounds over the last 30 years, due in large measure to the work of William V. Sliter  (1935-1997).  Last fall we lost a cherished colleague and dear friend.  Bill was a teacher and mentor to a younger cadre of geologists, biostratigraphers, and paleoceanographers.  He collaborated with people all over the world including Italy, United Kingdom, France, Mexico, Venezuela, Brazil, and Japan.  This charismatic soul with boundless wit and infectious enthusiasm could weave a story about adventures in the field or at sea that would leave you in stitches, or he could tease-apart a complex geologic problem with insightful, yet simple clarity.  Representing but three voices of the many who had the pleasure of working and playing with Bill, we can categorically say that both his professional expertise and warm personality are dearly missed.

We have organized a symposium in honor of Bill for the 1998 GSA meeting to be held in Toronto, Thursday Oct. 29.  The session is sponsored by the Cushman Foundation and is entitled "Paleoecological and Geochemical  Signature of Cretaceous Anoxic Events: A Memorial to William V. Sliter".  The session will feature a mixture of overview talks and presentations of  new research concerning the environments of deposition of Cretaceous black shale events, their influence on long-term biotic evolution, their geochemical signatures, and their origin.  Bill devoted a significant part of his career to the study of Cretaceous black shales.  The response to initial inquiries made about such a tribute session was immediate.  We have a full slate of speakers for the morning oral session, all of whom were close colleagues of Bill's (Mike Arthur, Tim Bralower, Sandra Cabrera, Walt Dean, Robert Douglas, Will Elder, Elisabetta Erba, Brian Huber, Eduardo Koutsoukos, Roger Larson, Mark Leckie, Lisa Pratt, Isabella Premoli Silva, and Irene Truskowski).  We welcome contributions for the afternoon poster session in honor of Bill.

Volume 29, no. 3 of the Journal of Foraminiferal Research (July 1999) will be a theme issue  dedicated to Bill Sliter based on the GSA symposium and poster session.  Anyone wishing to contribute a paper to this issue is welcome.  Please contact T.B., B.H., or M.L. if interested.  All papers must be received by November 1, 1998.

Tim Bralower  Department of Geology, University of North Carolina        bralower@email.unc.edu
Brian Huber  Department of Paleobiology, Smithsonian  Institution      huber.brian@nmnh.si.edu
Mark Leckie Department of Geosciences, University of  Massachusetts    mleckie@geo.umass.edu