Eric Christoffereson

Eric Christofferson, a resident of San Ramon, died Nov. 10. He was 73.

Born May 29, 1939 in Newburyport, Mass., he attended Princeton University on a scholarship from the U.S. Navy majoring in geology and minoring in naval science.

After earning a bachelor's degree, he served a four-year tour of duty with the U.S. Navy advancing from ensign to lieutenant. He attended Navy flight school and served aboard a Navy oceanographic ship. Following active duty, he earned a Ph.D. degree from the University of Rhode Island's Graduate School of Oceanography where he studied and researched the geology of ocean basins and aided in the development of the theory of plate tectonics. He was awarded a two-year Amoco Fellowship and completed his Ph.D. thesis research on the magnetism of the floor of the Caribbean Sea.

With a National Science Foundation grant, he mapped an extensive area of the Caribbean Sea as a test of his doctoral thesis. He further expanded and honed his geographic knowledge as a faculty member at Rutgers and Howard Universities where he taught undergraduate and graduate courses in geology and geophysics for 12 years.

In 1992, Christofferson was hired at the Lab by the Environmental Monitoring and Analysis Division of the Environmental Protection Department.

He published numerous professional papers and reports. As a member of the Water Guidance and Monitoring Group, he was responsible for groundwater monitoring and analysis.

He designed and maintained monitoring networks using cost-effective sampling plans and reporting on them for LLNL and the Livermore Valley to state and federal regulatory agencies.

After retiring from LLNL, he walked daily, kayaked, played bocce ball and maintained his FCC general class amateur radio station license. He also panned for gold in the Sierras. He enjoyed traveling about the state of California -- especially to the coastal regions.

Christofferson is survived by his wife, Ann (Ruth); sons, Daniel and Peter; sisters, Karen, Faye and Clair; brothers, Paul, Jim and Karl; numerous cousins, nieces and newphews.

A celebration of his life will be held in the springtime.