Veteran geological engineer John McCombe, well known for his involvement in the aggregate industry and in open-pit mining, has died.
McCombe, who graduated with a bachelor of science degree in geological engineering from Queen’s University in 1954, started his career in the mining industry with Fundy Bay Copper Mines in 1955. His early years were spent in the Atlantic provinces with Fundy Bay, the consulting firm of Leo H. Timmins & Associates, and Iron Ore Co. of Canada, where he was a pit engineer at Schefferville, Que.
By the 1970s he had returned to Ontario, where he held positions with Dufferin Aggregates and St. Lawrence Cement managing quarrying and pit operations. He founded his own consulting firm, Tenoga Consultants, in 1981, providing services in exploration management, aggregate resource assessment, and management of pits and quarries. For the firm of Watts, Griffis & McOuat, McCombe served as senior mining engineer on a project overseeing quarry operations for the government of Yemen.
An avid sportsman, McCombe played intercollegiate football for Queen’s and was a regular golfer. He leaves his wife Deborah, also a geologist, children Nancy, John, David, William and Robert, and eight grandchildren. Memorial donations may be made to the Heart and Stroke Foundation or the Canadian Diabetes Association.
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