This announcement is from the Witmer Lab at Ohio University.

I’m shaken by the news of Mark Norell’s passing—a good friend, a trusted colleague, and a giant in our field. Coincidentally, I got the news as I was working on my talk for the International Symposium on Asian Dinosaurs in Fukui later this month. Here’s my slide acknowledging Mark’s impact on Asian dinosaur science in general, as well as my team’s work on Asian dinosaurs in that he graciously allowed me to study and even borrow and CT scan so many of the spectacular fossils they collected. It really hurt to just now add “1957–2025” to my slide. Here’s just one brief story with Mark Norell: I was at the AMNH in 1995 (30 years ago), and we were chatting about some of their recent Gobi finds. As we walked into the prep lab, he calmly said, “Oh yeah, let me show you one that we found last year.” On the table was a lump covered by a delicate cloth. Mark then, without warning, removed the cloth like he was unveiling a painting or a statue, revealing this stunning skull that would six years later be named Citipati osmolskae. I literally lost my breath and clutched my chest, and Mark just laughed. Sail on, Mark!

Here is one of his many videos on Youtube.

From CBS Sunday Morning in 2019.