Roy Herbert Reinhart (born September 11, 1919, died December 11, 2005

Oxford, Ohio Oxford is a city in Butler County, Ohio, United States. The population was 23,035 at the 2020 census. A college town, Oxford was founded as a home for Miami University and lies in the southwestern portion of the state approximately northwest ...

) was a zoologist, geologist, and

paleontologist Paleontology (), also spelled palaeontology or palæontology, is the scientific study of life that existed prior to, and sometimes including, the start of the Holocene epoch (roughly 11,700 years before present). It includes the study of fossi ...

. He is especially remembered for his research on

Sirenia The Sirenia (), commonly referred to as sea-cows or sirenians, are an order of fully aquatic, herbivorous mammals that inhabit swamps, rivers, estuaries, marine wetlands, and coastal marine waters. The Sirenia currently comprise two distinct f ...

and the discovery of the

order Order, ORDER or Orders may refer to: * Categorization, the process in which ideas and objects are recognized, differentiated, and understood * Heterarchy, a system of organization wherein the elements have the potential to be ranked a number of d ...

Desmostylia The Desmostylia (from Greek δεσμά ''desma'', "bundle", and στῦλος ''stylos'', "pillar") are an extinct order of aquatic mammals that existed from the early Oligocene (Rupelian) to the late Miocene (Tortonian) (). Desmostylians are t ...

Life

Reinhart earned his

B.S. A Bachelor of Science (BS, BSc, SB, or ScB; from the Latin ') is a bachelor's degree awarded for programs that generally last three to five years. The first university to admit a student to the degree of Bachelor of Science was the University ...

Miami University Miami University (informally Miami of Ohio or simply Miami) is a public research university in Oxford, Ohio. The university was founded in 1809, making it the second-oldest university in Ohio (behind Ohio University, founded in 1804) and the 10 ...

, Oxford, Ohio, in 1941. He met is wife, Betty J. (née Whitesell) while an undergraduate student at Miami. During WW2, Reinhart served as lieutenant Combat Engineer in

Patton George Smith Patton Jr. (November 11, 1885 – December 21, 1945) was a General (United States), general in the United States Army who commanded the Seventh United States Army in the Mediterranean Theater of Operations, Mediterranean Theater ...

's Third army and took part in the

Liberation of Paris The liberation of Paris (french: Libération de Paris) was a military battle that took place during World War II from 19 August 1944 until the German garrison surrendered the French capital on 25 August 1944. Paris had been occupied by Nazi Germ ...

, the

Battle of the Bulge The Battle of the Bulge, also known as the Ardennes Offensive, was the last major German offensive (military), offensive military campaign, campaign on the Western Front (World War II), Western Front during World War II. The battle lasted fr ...

, the

Crossing of the Rhine The crossing of the Rhine River by a mixed group of barbarians which included Vandals, Alans and Suebi is traditionally considered to have occurred on the last day of the year 406 (December 31, 406). The crossing transgressed one of the Roman ...

, and the liberation of

Buchenwald Buchenwald (; literally 'beech forest') was a Nazi concentration camp established on hill near Weimar, Germany, in July 1937. It was one of the first and the largest of the concentration camps within Germany's 1937 borders. Many actual or su ...

. After the war, he founded the Department of Geology at

West Texas State College West Texas A&M University (WTAMU or WT) is a public university in Canyon, Texas. It is the northernmost campus of the Texas A&M University System and accredited by the Southern Association of Colleges and Schools (SACS). It was established on Se ...

before returning to Miami as a teacher in paleontology. He discovered and described the order

, a group of marine mammals, in 1959. He was rewarded twice as an author; the AK Morris Award in 1991 and the John Dolibois Award in 1994. In 1991, he donated of land to Miami University, now known as the Reinhart Reserve. Throughout his life, Reinhart was an active cross country runner and a published cartoonist. Except his interest in fossils of all kind, he also assembled one of the finest collections of mound builder relics in the US. Reinhart had a brother, a sister, two daughters, one son, three grandchildren, and five great-grandchildren. He and his wife were named Parents of the Year in 1972. He died in December 2005 after a brief illness.

Bibliography

* * * * * (thesis) * * * * * * * * *

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Reinhart, Roy Herbert 20th-century American geologists American paleontologists Paleozoologists 1919 births 2005 deaths 20th-century American zoologists