Karl Turekian was a man of remarkable scientific breadth, with innumerable important contributions to marine geochemistry, atmospheric chemistry, cosmochemistry, and global geochemical cycles. He was mentor to a long list of students, postdocs, and faculty (at Yale and elsewhere), a leader in geochemistry, a prolific author and editor, and had a profound influence in shaping his department at Yale University. Karl was a true scholar and interested in everything, scientific and nonscientific. As

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... his Yale colleague George Veronis reflected, "Karl plunged into any topic, very often far removed from his own specialty, and had heated discussions about all kinds of issues. His discussions were heated because that's how he got himself worked up to carry on the way he did. Very often he would say something like, 'I don't know anything about so and so,' when a topic was raised, and quite often he didn't. He wanted to learn, and his own ignorance would not deter him from carrying on." Karl's autobiography (Turekian, 2006 ) and a recent interview (Turekian and Cochran, 2012) tell his story far better than we can and make clear his vast contributions to science and especially his role in the development and advancement of the field of geochemistry. What is especially notable about Karl is his impact on people, the unanimity of the love for Karl by all who knew him well, and his unique character. We'd like to recount a little of what it was like to be on the receiving end of his warmth and wisdom. As he has written, Karl began adult life by joining the Navy at 17 on 4 July 1945, after a semester at Wheaton College. Fortunately for the field of geochemistry, VJ day came while he was still in boot camp. The GI Bill, along with scholarships, allowed Karl to return to Wheaton and obtain his degree in chemistry, and then in 1949 to join a graduate program in the new field of geochemistry at Columbia University under Larry Kulp with students Dick Holland and his fellow Wheaton alums Wally Broecker and Paul Gast. This was a propitious time as Columbia's Lamont Geological Observatory had only been established a few years beforehand. It was during these years that Karl began to acquire the skills that led to his rapid emergence as a leader in geochemistry. His interactions with Paul Gast and his advisor Larry Kulp were particularly influential as it was then that he began his quest to attack the largest geochemical problems by application of intellect and new measurement capabilities. Karl began by assaulting the element strontium, measuring its concentration in everything he could get his hands on (rocks, sediments, corals, ocean waters, etc.) and applying these measurements toward developing a broad understanding of Earth. His work at Lamont collaborating with Wally Broecker on sedimentary ix x Karl Karekin Turekian (1927-2013