Obituary of Roger Butler

Dr. Roger Moore Butler passed away peacefully on Thursday, May 19, 2005 at the Foothills Medical Centre in Calgary, AB. Roger was born on October 14, 1927 in Ilford, England. Roger lived in Canada during WW II and returned to England where he studied Chemical Engineering. He earned his PhD in Chemical Engineering at London’s Imperial College of Science and Technology in 1951. Roger returned to Canada and taught Chemical Engineering at Queen’s University in Kingston, ON and joined Imperial Oil in 1955. He worked in the petroleum industry with Imperial Oil in Sarnia, ON, New York and Calgary until the end of 1982. Roger then became Director of Technical Programs for AOSTRA until he accepted the Endowed Chair of Petroleum Engineering at the University of Calgary from its inception in 1983 until the end of 1995. Following his retirement from the University of Calgary, he was Founder and President of GravDrain Inc., a research and consulting company for the heavy oil industry. Roger’s experience covers a wide range of petroleum industry research, engineering and development activities including heavy oil and tar sands production, refining, computer control and transportation. During 1987 – 1988, he was a distinguished Lecturer for the Society of Petroleum Engineers (SPE) and spoke worldwide on the subject of horizontal wells. He made a second lecture tour for the SPE in 1992 – 1993 and spoke on Steam Assisted Gravity Drainage (SAGD), the process he invented in 1978. Since this introduction, 330 billion barrels of oil have been rendered accessible. In 1987, he was awarded the RS Jane Memorial Lecture award, the premium award of the Canadian Society for Chemical Engineers. Dr. Butler is the author or coauthor of over 100 scientific papers and patents and of two books, Thermal Recovery of Oil and Bitumen, Prentice-Hall, 1991, and Horizontal Wells for the Recovery of Oil, Gas and Bitumen, Petroleum Society 1994. Roger’s passions were many and included his family, science, mathematics, computers, electronics, short wave radio, sailing, travel, painting and woodworking. Roger was survived by his loving wife Joyce of fifty-one years; sons, Allen (Jane) of Seattle and Peter (Karen) of Vancouver, BC; daughter Mary Douglas (Alex) of Calgary; grandchildren, Megan, Erin and Natalie Douglas, and Gregory and Michael Butler. He is lovingly remembered by his sister-in-law Nancy Boutin; as well as family, friends, former students and colleagues. A Celebration of Roger’s Life will be held for family, friends, and colleagues at the University Club – 4th Floor MacEwan Student Centre, University of Calgary, 2500 University Drive N.W., Calgary, AB on Tuesday, May 24, 2005 at 4:00 p.m. Forward condolences through www.mcinnisandholloway.com. The family would like to thank the doctors and staff at Maui Memorial Medical Centre ICU and Foothills Critical Care unit for their support and compassion during his final days. If friends so desire, memorial tributes may be made directly to the Canadian Cancer Society for Multiple Myeloma Research, 215 – 12 Avenue S.E., Calgary, AB T2G 1A2 Telephone: (403) 205-3966. Roger had a wonderful life, and to his family and his achievements he would be known to say “Jolly Good Show!” In living memory of Roger Butler, a tree will be planted by McINNIS & HOLLOWAY FUNERAL HOMES Park Memorial Chapel, 5008 ELBOW DRIVE S.W. Telephone: (403) 243-8200.