By Finn J. John
Jack Dymond, a world-renowned Corvallis geochemist and oceanographer well known locally for his civic involvement, drowned Friday afternoon in the Rogue River near Gold Beach.
According to a report from the Curry County Sheriff's Office, the accident happened around 5:30 p.m. A resident along the river called 911 to report someone in the water calling for help.
A sheriff's sergeant responded and learned one person, 43-year-old Gold Beach resident Kenneth Sparkman, had been pulled out of the water by a boater; the boat operator picked up the sergeant, and they went looking for Dymond, the other victim.
Dymond was found a few minutes later, submerged in about 8 feet of water; the sergeant pulled him out, got him to shore and started CPR.
The 64-year-old Dymond was taken by LifeFlight helicopter to Curry General Hospital, where he was pronounced dead; he had been under water for about 10 minutes, according to the report.
Sparkman said he'd been fishing in the same area as Dymond and, seeing he was in trouble, went to help; however, he said, he got caught in the current and almost drowned himself.
Dymond retired from Oregon State University College of Oceanography and Atmospheric Sciences in 1997, after 28 years as a professor there. He specialized in geographical oceanography, and published dozens of scientific articles and studies. Professionally, he may be best known by many for his work in Crater Lake, where submersibles with cameras were used to explore and study the depths.
Dymond was also well known for his letters and guest opinions in area newspapers, including the Corvallis Gazette-Times. He was outspoken on global warming, and was sharply critical of those who preferred a "wait and see" approach.
"I am mostly convinced there are risks involved here that society ought not be taking," he told a Gazette-Times reporter in a June 1999 interview. "If we told the average person, they wouldn't want to take these risks."
Born Aug. 16, 1939, Dymond graduated cum laude in 1961 from Miami University in Oxford, Ohio; he earned his Ph.D. in oceanography from the University of California-San Diego in 1966.
He came to OSU in 1969 from Columbia University, where he had worked as a research associate after being awarded his doctorate; he retired from OSU in 1997.