Herbie was born in New York City to Samuel and Pauline Meyers, who met after immigrating to the United States from Eastern Europe following World War I. He spent his entire childhood in the Bronx and worked for a time in his father’s store, Meyers Hardware, in Manhattan. After his graduation from DeWitt Clinton High School, he enrolled in the City College of New York, first in the engineering school, and then as an accounting major.
In the summer of 1952, Herb took a hiatus from college to join the U.S. Air Force, serving in the Korean War as a navigator in the All-Weather 4th Fighter Squadron. After the war, he was stationed in Portland, Oregon, and Seattle, Washington, before his honorable discharge from active duty in 1955. He remained in the Air Force Reserve until 1966.
Following discharge from active duty, Herb returned to the City College of New York, graduating in 1958 with a degree in geology. He then moved to Washington, D.C., to work for the U.S. Coast and Geodetic Survey.
For the Southern Hemisphere summer of 1960-1961, Herb was chosen to serve as the geomagnetist on a survey team for the U.S. Antarctic Research Program. His was the second-ever geomagnetic survey in Antarctica. His results were published as “A Magnetic Observer’s Report on the Ellsworth Highland Traverse”, and he was honored for his service by having a summit in Antarctica named for him, the Meyers Nunatak (74°54’S, 98°46’W).
A few years after his return to his work at the Coast and Geodetic Survey in Washington, D.C., Herbert was assigned to supervise a new employee, Ethel, whom he would eventually marry. In 1972, following the births of their first three children and after the Coast and Geodetic Survey had become part of the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, Herb and Ethel moved to Boulder, Colorado, to join NOAA’s offices there. Their fourth child was born two years later. Herb was eventually promoted to Chief of the Solid Earth Geophysics Division of the National Geophysical Data Center at NOAA, a position from which he retired in 1995.
Herbert is survived by his wife, Ethel (Sahara) Meyers, of Boulder, Colorado, and four children: Dana Meyers of Baltimore, Maryland; Gregory Meyers of Pueblo, Colorado; Karen Meyers and her husband Robert Reid of Boulder; and Tiffany Meyers of Boulder. He is also survived by his sister, Renee Goldsmith, of Venice, Florida, and five grandchildren: Dale Meyers, Bennet Meyers, Jackson Reid, Joey Reid, and Isaac Meyers. He is predeceased by his brother, Stanley Meyers.
Herbert was a remarkable man: quiet but brave, intelligent but humble, serious about his responsibilities but known for his wicked sense of humor, fiercely independent but prioritizing nothing above his family. All of these qualities endure in his children and grandchildren, his most cherished legacy.
A celebration of Herbert’s life is being planned for his next birthday.
Fond memories and expressions of sympathy may be shared at www.cristmortuary.com for the Meyers family.
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