Professor R.A. Howie, honour member of the SFMC left us on Saturday, March 10th 2012. His name is still associated on the one hand to his work as a writer of Mineralogical Abstracts, an unrivalled tool until the generalization of online publication and of search engines, and on the other hand associated to “Rock-forming Mineral” series of Deer, Howie et Zussman, reference work if any.
He also was the dedicatee of howieite, one of the three iron silicates (with deerite and zussmanite) described in the blueschist facies metacherts of Laytonville, California. A great figure of mineralogy has disappeared devoted to Science until his last breath.