John Sinkankas

At the age of seven he visited the New Street Quarries in Paterson, where he saw and collected crystals of apophyllite, prehnite, quartz, calcite and other mineral specimens.

Before and during World War II, Sinkankas was employed in flying patrol seaplanes engaged in convoy work and anti-submarine warfare in numerous places.

During the course of the war he had an opportunity to fly Colonel Bernt Balchen around Greenland where they visited various colonies along the western coast, including Ivigtut.

In 1951, the journal Rocks and Minerals revised its column The Amateur Lapidary and asked Sinkankas to be the author.

He was listed as such in the International Directory of Micromounters, published by the Baltimore Mineralogical Society, as long ago as the third edition (1966).

[6] To provide a source of materials for earth scientist, Sinkankas and his wife established Peri Lithon Books company.

In 1982, the Board of Trustees of William Paterson College presented to John Sinkankas the degree of Doctor of Humane Letters.