Anthony "Tony" D'Agostino, GCSSEPM Honorary Member
Honorary Membership is granted in 2019 to Tony D’Agostino, who for an extended period, has supported the activities of the GCSSEPM Section and Foundation in a substantial way through his time, effort, and fiduciary advice and support. Tony’s ongoing eighteen-plus-years of service to our organization has earned them Honorary Membership. Tony served as Executive Director of the GCSSEPM Foundation from 2016 through 2018 and as Trustee from 2008 through 2018. In 2010, Tony was recipient of the GCSSEPM Distinguished Service Award. Tony served the GCSSEPM Executive Council as Past President in 2003, as President in 2002, as President Elect in 2001, and as Vice President in 2000. Tony graduated with a B.S. in Geology from Illinois State University, then continued to graduate school at Northern Illinois University. While there, he studied under the renowned Antarctic researcher Peter N. Webb. In 1980, upon completion of his thesis on Miocene foraminifera from the Ross Sea, he was awarded an M.S. in Geology, and accepted a job as a biostratigrapher at ARCO in Houston. In his early years at Arco, Tony concentrated mostly on the difficult Paleogene section of the Gulf Coast. In 1982, he spent 2 months at sea as a Shipboard Scientist on DSDP Leg 86 (Shatsky Rise and NW Pacific). This Leg collected some of the first physical evidence supporting the impact theory for the K/T boundary event. That same year Tony joined GCSSEPM. During the tenure at ARCO, Tony was exposed to a broad range of experiences that gave him a unique perspective on applied stratigraphy. This perspective enabled him to provide groundbreaking influence on our Section's functions.
In 1991, Tony left the Gulf Coast region, moved to Midland, and began active participation in the Permian Basin Section. While in Midland, Tony broadened his skills by acquiring expertise in conodonts and doing extensive work with carbonates. He left ARCO and worked several years as an independent consultant in Midland. His consulting work gave him the opportunity to apply his skills not only to the Western Interior of the US, but also to Mexico and Venezuela. In 1997, he accepted a job with PGS and returned to Houston. He immediately resumed active participation in GCSSEPM activities. He initiated (with Robert Nail and Norm Rosen) the redesign and upgrade of the Section web pages. Participation in Earth Science Week also became a permanent duty of the Section’s President-Elect during Tony's tenure in that position. After another year as an independent contractor, Tony accepted a position as Biostratigraphic Coordinator with Omni/Weatherford Labs. During his tenure there he pioneered the use of bio- and sequence-stratigraphic principals in unconventional plays. In 2008, Tony left Weatherford Labs and accepted a position working unconventional resources with Hess Corporation. Also, in 2008, the GCSSEPM Executive Council elected Tony to the GCSSEPM Foundation Board of Trustees. Tony has contributed to both the GCSSEPM and to the science of geology. He contributed papers to three research conferences and, he was the first person to bring a core to a GCSSEPM Research Conference (1984). Tony initiated our social media presence by creating the GCSSEPM Facebook page. His dedication to service has been essential to the success of our organization throughout the years, and he has well-earned the Honorary Membership Award.