Victor E. Noshkin Jr.

Victor E. Noshkin Jr. died Nov. 25. He was 84.

Noshkin was born to Katherine I. and Victor E. Noshkin Sr. on March 8, 1932 in San Francisco, California. The Noshkin family resided in San Francisco where he completed grammar, junior and high school; graduating in 1949. In 1951 he enlisted in the U.S. Army and was soon sent to Korea where he spent part of his time on the front lines as a radio operator and forward observer for a heavy mortar company. After rotating home from Korea in 1952 he was eventually assigned to the Far East Command Honor Guard Company in Tokyo and served Generals Mark Clark and Matthew Ridgeway through 1953. It was in Tokyo where he met his wife to be Joan; a WAC (Women's Army Corp) working as a receptionist at the Tokyo Army Hospital.

Noshkin was honorably discharged in early 1954 and he and Joan were married in November 1954 while he attended San Francisco State College. In 1958 he earned his bachelor's degree in chemistry. He, his wife and first born daughter, Susan, relocated to Worcester, Massachusetts where he attended Clark University eventually earning a masters and doctorate degree in nuclear chemistry. At this point in life he began an exciting and varied scientific career. While finishing school he acquired a keen interest in environmental radioactivity. After graduation he joined the staff at the Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution in Woods Hole, Massachusetts, to study the behavior of nuclear weapons fallout in the marine environment.

He and his now larger family moved back to California in 1972 where he accepted the position of section leader for the Aquatic Sciences programs at Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory (LLNL). Here he was able to obtain research funding to conduct radiological studies in a variety of aquatic environments, many in the California coastal area. His largest program was a 13 year effort in the Marshall Islands, specifically at Bikini and Enewetak Atolls, the sites for a number of U.S. nuclear tests during the 1940s and 1950s. During this period he participated with other national and international marine agencies on several scientific programs. Between 1985 and 1988 he served as chairman of the Oceanographic Subpanel of the Inter-agency Nuclear Safety Review Panel (INSRP) evaluating impacts of nuclear fuels released during possible accidents of U.S. space craft.

In 1988 he left LLNL to take a position as head of the Radiochemistry and Geochemistry Section for the International Atomic Energy (IAEA) Laboratory of Marine Radioactivity in Monaco. A deal of time was spent instructing individuals from developing countries in radiochemical procedures. In 1991 he returned from France to LLNL where he was supported to complete publications from his earlier studies.

He retired from the LLNL in 2000 and moved to Redding where they have been living in retirement for the last 16 years. While in retirement he continued to assemble studies for publication in scientific journals. In total he published or co-authored over 100 scientific articles or reports and presented his results at more than 30 scientific meetings. Many of his publications can be found on the internet under his name.

Noshkin lived a long and unique life with his loving wife and devoted family. He is survived by his loving wife and partner for 62 years, Joan; his sister Nancy (James); daughters Susan (Bill), Nanci (Tim), Jennifer (Jeff); grandchildren Nathan, Dawn, Andrew, Jordan and Justin and great grandchildren, Jace and Jackson.

Noshkin requested no service be held and that his ashes be buried in the Northern California Veterans Cemetery, Igo, California.