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Jens Friis Touborg
February 5, 1940 - January 28, 2016
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<div itemprop="description">The Life of Jens <br /> <br />Jens Friis Touborg was born in Copenhagen Denmark to Andreas Friiz Touborg and Karen Marie Kristensen on February 5th, 1940. Jens was the eldest of three brothers and spent the first 25 years of his life in Denmark, punctuated by summer sojourns in the Lake District. These were precious times for Jens and the love of the Scandinavian landscape likely guided him towards a field related career. He was also a skilled linguist, being conversant in English, Danish, Swedish, French, German and Spanish as well as a smattering of Gronlandic. <br /> <br />Jens completed his degrees at the University of Uppsala, Sweden (1964) and the University of Copenhagen (1967). In the late fifties he spent several seasons mapping in Greenland with the Geological Survey of Denmark and Greenland (GGU). In 1968, Jens moved to Canada, where he undertook graduate studies at the University of Toronto and worked with Cominco. He subsequently moved to Yellowknife to be an underground mine geologist at Cominco&rsquo;s famous Con gold mine. <br /> <br />In the early seventies Jens then joined Urangesellschaft Ltd (UG) a German uranium exploration company based in Toronto. Through UG, Jens became a much appreciated Senior Geologist, nurturing friendships that lasted over 40 years. He subsequently became a Senior Geologist to Pan Ocean Oil, working in Canada and West Africa before expanding his consulting practice to other global multinationals. <br /> <br />In 1980 Jens met and married the love of his life Suzanne Dang- a relationship that lasted until his death. Suzanne embodied what Jens truly valued, someone to share his love of language, art, music and travel. Together they conquered the world from China to Vietnam, from the Arctic and Iceland to New Zealand and Polynesia. In 2013, Jens and Suzanne visited the Antarctic another successful ice adventure that punctuated Jens&rsquo; life. <br /> <br />Jens was not content to stick to the normal course of hard rock geology and put his heart into sedimentary and basin analysis, consulting for companies not only for metals but especially for oil and gas. His activities as a structural geology specialist and interpreter took him to East Africa, Latin America and Indonesia. Jens ultimately retired from the consulting business in 2000 but he continued in earnest his interest in tectonics and basin analysis. He was also keenly interested in the new paradigm of gas exploitation, now known as fracking, as well as the debate on global warming. <br /> <br />Ever a lover of nature, Jens was a hiking enthusiast as well as a collector of images and had a prodigious memory for the esoteric be it in literature, art, theatre or music. He was a great opera lover, but also had time for Jazz and French film. In the late seventies Jens was inspired to create imagery in pastels exploring this medium for several years. He was also an active member of the Probus Clubs of Mississauga and Oakville and a member of The Association of American Petroleum Geologists (AAPG). <br /> <br />At heart, he was a quiet thinker, a sensitive man who kept a lot to himself. He was not a man to be the center of the party but was always ready with a quick wit to summarize the pageant that was unfolding. He was trusted, highly regarded and excruciatingly modest. Jens was our friend. He did not take himself seriously, and above all he was prepared to listen and provide his counsel. All of us who knew this man were enriched by the tranquility of his soul, but not all knew that beneath that outward gentle countenance was a river deep, carved by the fjords that were his birthplace. Jens wishes were that his remains be scattered in the aged forests of southern Ontario where he and Suzanne walked on their ever shortening journeys over the past year. <br /> <br /> <br />If desired, please consider a donation in his memory in support of St. Vincent de Paul Society of St. Andrew's Parish, Oakville.</div>