In Memoriam: George J. Carr

1945-2009

by Kathy Pryor, CHP

George J. Carr passed away on 6 May 2009 in Kennewick, Washington, at the age of 63. He was born in Glendale, California, on 8 September 1945 and attended Moffet County High School in Craig, Colorado, where he graduated in 1963. George earned a bachelor of science degree in physics from Southern Colorado State College in 1970 and also earned minors in engineering and math. George was a plenary member of the Health Physics Society from 1976 until the time of his death.

George began his career in health physics in the early 1970s and attended a 10-week health physics training course at the Oak Ridge Associated Universities in 1974. Early in his career, George provided technical and operational health physics support to uranium mill tailings cleanup programs in Grand Junction, Colorado, and in Wyoming. Later, George was employed by Argonne National Laboratories in Idaho Falls, Idaho, and participated in assessments of radiation safety programs at reactors. As an employee of the Pacific Northwest National Laboratory (PNNL), George provided health physics support to the Chornobyl Shelter Stabilization Project in Slavutich, Ukraine. He traveled extensively throughout the Former Soviet Union and the Ukraine, and met his wife, Galina Chernomorets, while in Russia. Upon his return from the Ukraine, George worked on the Radiation Portal Monitoring Project at PNNL.

George was preceded in death by his father, Harold Loyd Carr, his mother, Bertha Villa Futhey Carr, and a brother, Albert Ray Carr. George is survived by his wife, Galina M. Chernomorets; daughter, Deidre Dong-Hee Malek; stepdaughters, Nadezhda Chernomorets and Elena Postoenko; and grandchildren, Caleb Taylor Malek, Shania-Lee Malek, Dacallos Beaudy-Lee Wilburn, Maleiah LolaLee Wilburn, Kostya Adamenko, and Victoria Postoenko. George will be missed by his health physics colleagues and friends.