Ohio Geological Society Honorary Member - William E. “Bill” Shafer

The past few years, I've been writing biographies of geologists who have been awarded Honorary Membership by the Ohio Geological Society. Because of various website reorganizations, these biographies were never republished to the website or never released on the website (https://www.ohiogeosoc.org/). I thought I would release these biographies through my blog, in order to help recognise the important work that these geologists had done in Ohio.

                                                                                                                                                              

Ohio Geological Society Honorary Member

William E. “Bill” Shafer

By James McDonald

William E. “Bill” Shafer, was born November 20, 1927, and attended the Ohio State University from 1947-1951, graduating with a B.S. in Geology. Prior to his graduation, Bill served in the United States Army from 1946 and 1947, and in the U.S. Army Reserves from 1947-1951. He began his career as a geophysicist, first with the United Geophysical Company, then subsequently with the Union Oil Company of California, and the California Ohio Company (Chevron). 

Bill founded Shafer Exploration Company Inc. in 1968, and later the Resources Exploration Development Company Inc. (REDCO).  The last two organizations were natural resources consultant corporations to the public-at-large with home offices in Columbus, Ohio. The first 17 years of his career he was employed by corporations. Since 1968, Bill has been incorporated as self-employed. Bill Shafer entered semi-retired status starting in 2000 to present. During the time period of the late 1970s, Bill contributed numerous technical reports evaluating the potential for natural gas production of the Lake Erie basin for the Ohio Energy and Resource Development Agency.

Bill has been active in a number of professional societies during the career. He is a member of the Society of Exploration Geophysicists, Life Member of the Ohio Academy of Science, and is a Registered Geologist in Wyoming. Bill joined AAPG in 1953 and has served as the Ohio Geological Society Delegate in the AAPG House of Delegates in 1970-1971. He has also served as a member of the AAPG Mentor Committee from 2000-2005.

Bill Shafer has served the AIPG Ohio Section in every officer position, including Member-at-Large, Secretary, Treasurer, President-Elect, President (1974), as well as screening board member and section historian.  As president he led the pursuit of state registration, gaining Ohio Senate sponsorship of the Ohio Geologists Registration bill.   In 2009 he received The Outstanding Achievement Award from the Ohio Section and in 2017 received an award for 50 years of membership in AIPG.

Bill Shafer has served as President of the Ohio Geological Society in 1984-1985. Most importantly, Bill spearheaded the publication of The Ohio Geological Society anthology on Morrow County, Ohio "Oil Boom", 1961-1967 and the Cambro-Ordovician reservoir of central Ohio, otherwise known as the Morrow County Anthology. This massive publication was over 30 years in development. Bill served as the managing editor and authored the opening chapter of the Morrow County Anthology. The opening chapter provides a comprehensive overall history of the this last “Oil Boom” in Morrow County, Ohio during the 1960s and a review of the petroleum geology and geophysics underlying this exploration play. Because of his service to the profession and particularly his dedication to bringing the Morrow County Anthology to print, the Ohio Geological Society awarded him Honorary Membership on May 20, 1996.

Bibliography

Shafer, William E., 1977, Ohio - Lake Erie gas exploration and development feasibility study: Ohio Energy and Resource Development Agency, 111 p.

McClish, Richard F., Johnson, Gene O., Shafer, William E., 1983, The Ohio oil shale core study, Shawnee No. 1, Scioto County, Ohio, in Vyas, Kirit C., editor, Proceedings, 1983 Eastern oil shale symposium: University of Kentucky, Institute for Mining and Minerals Research, Lexington, KY, p. 163-167.

Gray, Jack, Maslowski, Andy, McCullough, Warren D., Shafer, William E., editors, 1985, The new Clinton collection: Ohio Geological Society, Columbus, Ohio, 243 p.

Shafer, William E., 1985, A comment on the submerged lands of Lake Erie, in Gray, Jack, Maslowski, Andy, McCullough, Warren D., Shafer, William E., editors, The new Clinton collection: Ohio Geological Society, Columbus, Ohio, p. 101-109

Shafer, William E., 1987, A cursory review of Ohio's ground water protection and management condition: Association of Engineering Geologists Newsletter, April 01, 1987, Vol. 30, Issue 2, pp. 25-26

Shafer, William E., 1994, Historic impressions, seismic observations; the evolution of a geologic model and other comments, in Shafer, William E., editor, The Ohio Geological Society anthology on Morrow County, Ohio "Oil Boom", 1961-1967 and the Cambro-Ordovician reservoir of central Ohio: Ohio Geological Society, Columbus, Ohio, p. 3-43

Shafer, William E., editor, 1994, The Ohio Geological Society anthology on Morrow County, Ohio "Oil Boom", 1961-1967 and the Cambro-Ordovician reservoir of central Ohio: Ohio Geological Society, Columbus, OH, United States, 452 p.