Arcie Lee McAlester Jr.

A. Lee McAlester—noted scientist, author, and academic—died on Tuesday, December 27, in Tyler after a long struggle with DLB. His 51-year career in the geological sciences spanned two universities (Yale, 1959-1974, and SMU, 1974-2010), produced five textbooks and countless academic papers, and made him the recipient of a Guggenheim Fellowship, NASA and National Science Foundation grants, and several SMU teaching honors. He also served as SMU’s Dean of Humanities and Sciences from 1974-1977, and as chairman of its geology department from 1993-2000. In addition to his science work, he co-authored three celebrated books about architecture with his former wife, including the now-standard text A Field Guide to American Houses. Colleagues remember him as an ambitious, expansive thinker and a great judge and nurturer of talent; his family remembers him as a generous and supportive father, husband, and son. A memorial will be held at 3 p.m. on Tuesday, January 3, in the McCord Auditorium of Dallas Hall at SMU.

Lee was born on February 3, 1933, in Dallas, the son of Arcie Lee Sr. and Alverta McAlester. He graduated with honors from SMU in 1954 with degrees in business administration and psychology, and served two years as a first lieutenant in the US Air Force. While stationed in Houston, he began taking night classes in geology and was mentored by James Lee Wilson of the Shell Research Lab. After an honorable discharge from service, he attended Yale University, receiving his MS in 1957 and PhD in 1960. In 1959, he became an associate professor at Yale and was appointed a curator at the Yale Peabody Museum of Natural History; after receiving a Guggenheim Fellowship in 1965, he became a tenured professor at Yale the following year. While there, he wrote the books The History of Life and The Earth. He was also on the editorial board of American Scientist from 1970 until 1974, and edited Prentice-Hall’s 13-volume Foundations of Earth Science book series.

In 1973, he accepted an appointment as Dean of Humanities and Sciences at SMU, which he held until 1977. He was also a professor of geology at SMU from his arrival there until he retired in 2010, chairing the geology department from 1993 to 2000 and co-authoring the textbooks Physical Geology, History of the Earth, and History of the Earth’s Crust. During his tenure as Dean, he hired many of the school’s most beloved faculty, including medieval history professor Jeremy Adams, English professor Bonnie Wheeler, and Russian history professor Dan Orlovsky, all of whom became lifelong friends.

Lee’s varied interests were evident in his life outside academics. He had a love for architecture and architectural history, writing four books on the subject with ex-wife Virginia Savage McAlester: A Field Guide to American Houses, Discover Dallas/Fort Worth, Great American Houses, and A Field Guide to America’s Historic Neighborhoods and Museum Homes: The Western States. For his work, he received honors from the National Trust for Historic Preservation and the Dallas Historical Society. He was also a master gardener, lifelong birdwatcher, amateur pilot, and lover of folk, big band, and classical music. He tirelessly encouraged his children’s creative endeavors and was a profound influence on all of them.

Lee was preceded in death by his beloved mother Alverta and brother Don. He is survived by his wife, Halina McAlester, of Tyler; his children, Martine McAlester of Dallas and Keven McAlester of Los Angeles; his longtime step-children, Carty Talkington of Los Angeles and Amy Talkington and her husband Robert Adams, both of Los Angeles; and two grandchildren.

In lieu of flowers, memorials may be made to the Heart to Heart Hospice Foundation, htohhfoundation.org. The family also sends its thanks to Prestige Estates and Kristy Redman of Tyler.