Eric Charles Prosh, (December 17, 1957 – September 3, 2013) was a Canadian paleontologist, geologist, and civil servant who worked in Nunavut.

Early life

Prosh grew up in

Roxboro, Quebec Roxboro was a town on the Island of Montreal. It was founded in 1914, and ceased to exist on 1 January 2002 as a result of municipal reorganization in Quebec. The town was located along the Rivière des Prairies. At the time of the merger with Mon ...

. His parents Eric and Marie had immigrated from Europe to Montreal in the early 1950s. He attended Riverdale High School, where he was valedictorian,

Vanier College Vanier College ( French: ''Collège Vanier'') is an English-language public college located in the Saint-Laurent borough of Montreal, Quebec, Canada. It was founded in 1970 as the second English-language public college of Quebec's public coll ...

, and Queen's University. He earned a doctorate in paleontology at the

University of Western Ontario The University of Western Ontario (UWO), also known as Western University or Western, is a public research university in London, Ontario, Canada. The main campus is located on of land, surrounded by residential neighbourhoods and the Thames R ...

in 1989, after years of research on fossils in the Disappointment Bay Formation. He was a post-doctoral student at

McGill University McGill University (french: link=no, Université McGill) is an English-language public research university located in Montreal, Quebec Montreal ( ; officially Montréal, ) is the second-most populous city in Canada and most populous ...

prior to employment in industry, eventually at Spectral International, a Colorado-based company specializing in remote sensing and spectroscopy.

Legacy

Prosh joined Nunavut's Department of Economic Development and Transportation in 2006, and became the Director of Minerals and Petroleum Resources. He was a key player on the Nunavut Mining Symposium organizing committees, during a period of strong growth in the regional economy, driven by the mining sector. He died suddenly on September 3, 2013 en route back to

Iqaluit Iqaluit ( ; , ; ) is the capital of the Provinces and territories of Canada, Canadian territory of Nunavut, its largest community, and its only city. It was known as Frobisher Bay from 1942 to 1987, after the Frobisher Bay, large bay on the c ...

after a holiday. One of the annual Nunavut Mining Awards sponsored by

Canadian North Bradley Air Services, operating as Canadian North, is a wholly Inuit-owned airline headquartered in Kanata, Ontario, Canada. It operates scheduled passenger services to communities in the Northwest Territories, Nunavut and the Nunavik region ...

Airlines is named after him. The Eric Prosh Government/Organization Award is in recognition of the contribution of a government department or organization to the advancement of the mining industry in Nunavut.

External links

Legislative Assembly of Nunavut, Hansard, page 4860Northern Mining News, Aug 2013 - page 13

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Prosh, Eric 1957 births 2013 deaths Government of Nunavut People from Iqaluit People from Pierrefonds-Roxboro