Goodbye to John Arsuk
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October 17, 2023
in IKKA project, Obituary, Science Projects

Goodbye to John Arsuk

A good friend with a warm heart, John Arsuk Rasmussen (born 1952) passed away peacefully at his favourite place on Earth, Greenland. John Arsuk helped us on the Ikka project from the early years of Ikka expeditions in the nineties until summer of 2014 when I returned to the area with colleagues from Sweden. Elin Tollefsen from Stockholm University took the fantastic photo featured above of John Arsuk in Ivittuut that summer. Without his help in 2014, it would almost have been impossible for us to carry out the planned fieldwork in the Grønnedal-Íka igneous complex. Thus, we owe him endless thanks. On top of it, he was just such a kind person and quite a character. He gave us a guided tour at the former Ivittuut mineral museum at the end of our stay. If there is an afterlife I sincerely hope for John it’s in his beloved Greenland.

Photo: Peter Barfoed. From John Arsuk’s funeral service in Hans Egede Church in Nuuk, Greenland.
Photo: Alasdair Skelton. John Arsuk and Gabrielle on the way to Jernhatten in the Grønnedal-Íka igneous complex, where we stayed for a week doing petrological fieldwork.
Photo: John Arsuk. The Swedish Petrology field team 2014: Lena Lundqvist (SGU), Gabrielle Stockholm (Stockholm University), Erik Sturkell (University of Gothenburg), Elin Tollefsen and Alasdair Skelton (both Stockholm University).

Photo: Erik Sturkell. John Arsuk showing Elin Tollefsen around in the former Ivittuut mineral museum.