David Naylor (1935-2025)
An eminent geologist who made lasting contributions to Irish geology and global petroleum exploration.
David Naylor (© Verney Naylor)
David (Dave) Naylor was born in Cleckheaton, Yorkshire, and graduated from the University of Leeds with a degree in geology, leading to a lifelong career dedicated to understanding Ireland’s geology and contributing to professional and learned geoscience bodies.
A lifetime of exploration
Dave’s career began in 1957 as a field geologist with mining company De Beers in South Africa and Namibia. In 1964, he joined Chevron in Canada, working on regional subsurface, well site and helicopter-based mapping projects in the Northwest Territories, Yukon and other remote Canadian areas at a time when maps of the region were virtually non-existent.
In the late 1960s he co-founded Exploration Consultants Limited, a London-based consultancy that became heavily involved in the early days of North Sea oil and gas exploration. He later became its Managing Director.
Dave then spent almost a decade with the Northgate Group of companies, being responsible for their petroleum exploration acreage offshore Ireland, in Morecambe Bay, the southern North Sea and further afield.
He later worked as Project Manager for ERA-Maptec, a consultancy specialising in the interpretation of satellite imagery. For the past 25 years, he was consultant to the 162 Group in Dublin, including Petrel Resources which held licences in the Porcupine Basin, offshore Ireland.
Academia and civil service
Dave always remained close to academia. His PhD was from Trinity College Dublin where he researched the Devono-Carboniferous succession in southwest Ireland. He was a lecturer in Sedimentology and Stratigraphy there for two years and spent a year as a Research Fellow at the University of Birmingham. He was Adjunct Professor at University College Dublin for many years too.
He had a lifelong interest in the Devonian and Lower Carboniferous geology of southwest Ireland, as well as the country’s offshore basins, publishing extensively on both for over 50 years. Co-author of five books and more than 70 other publications, his final piece in 2024 was in the Irish Journal of Earth Sciences, of which he was a founding editor.
Dave spent a period as Assistant Director of the Geological Survey of Ireland, where he oversaw their field mapping programme, and was the technical representative for Ireland at European Commission Committees and the United Nations Conference on the Law of the Sea.
Dave loved being in the field and believed that a geologist should never become too far removed from rocks
A full life
Dave loved being in the field and believed that a geologist should never become too far removed from rocks. He treated everyone with courtesy and respect. Always approachable and patient, he was a mentor to generations of geologists and possessed a treasure trove of fascinating stories from his worldwide adventures. He will be greatly missed in the geoscience sector as a kind, generous and wise colleague and friend, with encyclopedic geological knowledge. He was a true explorer.
Dave passed away in Kensington, Maryland, USA, on 15 June 2025, following a short illness. He is survived by Verney, his wife of more than 62 years, their sons Sean and Mark, and their two grandchildren.
By Pat Shannon
