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Joseph Anthony Mandarino was born in Chicago on April 20, 1929, the son of Bruno and Rose (Salvo) Mandarino. Even as a young boy he had an interest in the rocks he found in the roadbeds beside railroad tracks on the outskirts of Chicago. In high school, he furthered his interest in science by serving as an usher at the Field Museum of Natural History in Chicago, where he was encouraged by both teachers and staff. At 18 he published his first article in Rocks & Minerals magazine. His interest in science led him to the Michigan College of Mining and Technology (Michigan Tech) in Houghton, where he graduated with a B.S. in General Science (emphasis on geology) in 1950. His summer employment during those years led to the publication of other articles.
He followed his undergraduate degree quickly with an M.S. in Geology in 1951, and took employment as a mineralogist with the Allis-Chalmers Manufacturing Company in Milwaukee, Wisconsin. But in 1950 the Korean War broke out; Joe enlisted as an officer in the United States Air Force in 1952, serving for part of his enlistment at Goose Bay, Labrador. After his discharge in 1954, he returned to academic life, spending time as a research assistant at Harvard before taking a position as Assistant Professor at Michigan Technological University in 1957, and earning his Ph.D. (mineralogy) from the University of Michigan at Ann Arbor in 1958. His PhD dissertation, "Some optical and stress-optical properties of synthetic ruby," carried on with the work that he had begun during his earlier Masters' studies.
Joe found far more than a PhD at the University of Michigan. That's where he met the love of his life. Joan Cady. They were...