In a special 2020 edition of Pratt’s Annual Alumni Achievement Awards, Gerard “Jerry” Ramon Case is being honored for his six decades of work in paleontology where he has bridged art and science as a researcher, illustrator, and educator. A virtual ceremony on August 18 will recognize his outstanding achievements that have enriched knowledge and appreciation of ancient life.
Date: Tuesday, August 18, 2020
Time: 2:00 PM EST (1:00 PM CT)
Zoom Video Conference
The Alumni Achievement Awards recognize outstanding alumni who have distinguished themselves in their fields; have earned a high degree of respect among their colleagues and in the general community; and whose impact has been felt on a regional, national, and/or international level.
The success of these alumni pays tribute to Pratt Institute’s prestigious faculty and to the legacy of Charles Pratt, who lived by this motto:
“Be true to your work and your work will be true to you.”
Gerard R. Case
Fine Arts 1955-1959
Gerard “Jerry” Ramon Case was born in Brooklyn and served in the US Navy before studying for his BFA at Pratt from 1955 to 1959. Using what he had learned at Pratt, including in his Foundation and Advertising Design classes, he began a career in art and advertising. Case’s passion for fossils was sparked when he was working for a Manhattan publishing company and happened to see a press sheet for The Fossil Book: A Record of Prehistoric Life (1958) by Carroll Lane Fenton and Mildred Adams Fenton. “I was enchanted,” he said. “I soon went looking for fossils in my free time.” Case has had an extraordinary career, including work on fossil illustrations and paleontological research, publishing more than 100 scientific papers, and has written 6 books. One of his most influential accomplishments is the over 500-page A Pictorial Guide to Fossils (1982). As he wrote in the preface, it offers “an illustrated presentation of past life forms that inhabited the earth millions of years ago” in an easy to navigate book filled with photographs and Case’s pen and ink drawings. Released in eleven editions, it has engaged countless readers with the incredible variety of fossil remains, sparking the same curiosity in paleontology that Case experienced decades ago. Whether writing on fossil sharks, fossil collecting, or compiling an atlas of invertebrate and vertebrate fossils, he has joined scientific research with his illustrations to make knowledge of extinct creatures accessible and informative for a wide range of readers, from his paleontologist colleagues to budding fossil aficionados.