Necrology

Jeffrey D. Thatcher '69

Jun. 18, 1947-Aug. 1, 2018

Jeffrey D. Thatcher ’69, a mining industry worker and conservationist of Berkeley Springs, W.Va., was born on June 18, 1947, in Milwaukee, a son of the former Helen Jeffrey and Douglas Thatcher. He learned to skate on frozen rivers, a precursor to high school and college hockey careers. Thatcher was raised in Colorado Springs where he was the star center of the Cheyenne Mountain High School hockey team, as well as a state all-star on the baseball diamond.

Thatcher attended Hamilton where he joined Delta Kappa Epsilon and took to the ice as the center on the men’s hockey team. After graduation, he worked as a field technician for Homestake Mining Co. and eventually became its the chief legislative lobbyist.

 Thatcher enjoyed a long career in the mining business throughout the United States for more than 45 years, serving also as a manager for Teichert Aggregates, headquartered in California, and as a partner with the geotechnical firm Steffen, Robertson & Kirsten of Vancouver, British Columbia. He lived in Colorado, West Virginia, and California, and worked in almost every state, as well as in Canada and Mexico, according to a published obituary.

Thatcher often served with community leaders to establish wildlife habitats, agricultural lands, and other productive uses for previously mined lands. He was an animal lover and avid sailor who found great pleasure in sailing the Caribbean seas in both mono-hull and catamaran boats with friends.

Jeffrey D. Thatcher died on Aug. 1, 2018. He was 71 and is survived by his wife of 31 years, the former Jean Kiel, two sons, and three grandchildren. He was predeceased by a son in 2016.

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