Draft:Warren Manspeizer

Warren Manspeizer (b. July 16, 1933) is an American geologist.

Early life and education
Manspeizer was born in the Bronx, New York, living there throughout his youth until college. He is the oldest son of Bertha (née Greenwald) and Isaac Manspeizer, who worked as a tailor in the garment industry. Manspeizer grew up near the Grand Concourse and graduated from DeWitt Clinton High School in 1952.

He attended City College of New York (1956) for a BSc, and West Virginia University (1958) for a MSc. in Geology. After completing the MSc, Manspeizer was accepted to Rutgers University for a PhD in Geology. In 1963, he completed the PhD under advisors, H. Johnson and H. Woodward, studying the stratigraphy of western New York State. He became only the 16th PhD awarded at Rutgers in Geological sciences.

Academic career
He was hired directly to the faculty of the Geology Department at the Rutgers University - Newark Campus in 1963. There he would become chairman of the department and taught as a tenured professor until his retirement in 2005. Manspeizer was active in University affairs and sat on many committees including the Board of Governors as faculty representative.

He was named Associate Dean of Student Affairs in 1971 during the turbulent political times in Newark. Manspeizer was a member of the New York Academy of Sciences, the American Association of Petroleum Geologists, and President of the New York State Geological Association. Later in his career he consulted in the oil industry for Texaco, Inc and Petrobras.

Scientific career
His scientific career was notable for his work as a stratigrapher, in particular for his study of rift-basins and their breakup. In 1972-73, Manspeizer was amongst a small group of American scientists chosen to explore the breakup of Pangaea through fieldwork from funding by the National Science Foundation. That work, which was published in 1976 with Harold Cousminer in the journal Science, helped support the theory of Plate Tectonics which was still nascent at the time.

Discovery of palynomorphs in the Atlas Mountains of Morocco and North American Triassic beds were used to date an early episode of continental rifting between Africa and North America to the middle Carnian. He continued his field studies of Triassic-Jurassic rifting and the breakup of Pangaea in North America, Africa, South America and the Middle East.

In addition to the many technical articles on geology published throughout his career, he edited the books Field studies of New Jersey geology and guide to field trips (1980) and Triassic-Jurassic rifting: continental breakup and the origin of the Atlantic Ocean and passive margins (1988).

Personal life
In 1962, he married Sylvia (née Halem), moved to  West Orange, New Jersey in 1966, and raised four children there.