Douglas J. Nichols,^1,2,* Masaki Matsukawa,^3,**,*** Makoto Ito<sup>4,****

1</sup>aDepartment of Earth Sciences, Denver Museum of Nature & Science, 2001 Colorado Boulevard, Denver, C
²†Deceased.
³bDepartment of Environmental Sciences, Tokyo Gakugei University, Koganei, Tokyo 184-8501, Japan
⁴cDepartment of Earth Sciences, Chiba University, Chiba, 263-8522, Japan

^*DOUGLAS J. NICHOLS passed away on January 21, 2010 following complications from surgery. Doug was a well-loved and highly respected figure in the geological and paleontological communities both locally and internationally. He received his Ph.D. from Pennsylvania State University before working as a college professor (Arizona State and SUNY Geneseo) and as an oil company geologist (Chevron) before joining the U.S. Geological Survey in 1978. He retired from the USGS in 2006 and continued his active research program as a USGS scientist emeritus, as research associate at the Denver Museum of Nature & Science, and as senior editor of the international journal Cretaceous Research. Doug had broad interests and had conducted research in North America, China, Russia, Mongolia, Japan, and Egypt. He studied the palynology of the Cretaceous and Paleogene and was famous for his work on the Cretaceous—Tertiary boundary. In 2008, he published a book with Cambridge University Press entitled Plants and the K—T Boundary. Doug was a Fellow of the Geological Society of America, past-president of the American Association of Stratigraphic Palynologists, a popular speaker at WIPS (Western Interior Paleontological Society), and a member of the Friends of Dinosaur Ridge. His gentleness, patience, and wry humor will be much missed by all those who knew him. He is survived by his wife Jan, son Ken (Spiny), daughters Joyce and Amber, and granddaughter Samantha.
^**Corresponding author. Email: matsukaw@u-gakugei.ac.jp
^***MASAKI MATSUKAWA is a Professor in the Department of Environmental Sciences of Tokyo Gakugei University, Tokyo, Japan. He has conducted extensive research on the geology and paleontology of East Asia.
^****MAKOTO ITO is a Professor in the Department of Earth Sciences of Chiba University, Chiba, Japan. He is sedimentologist and stratigrapher, and a frequent collaborator with Masaki Matsukawa in geological studies in East Asia.