1900-1967
Max Littlefield was born on July 1, 1900 in Cherokee, Iowa to Fred Littlefield and Mary Littlefield. Max graduated from Cherokee High School and went on to attend Buena Vista College in Storm Lake, Iowa. He attended Buena Vista for a year and a half before transferring to the University of Iowa, where he spent the next two and a half years finishing his BA which he received in 1921. He stayed at the University of Iowa to receive an MS in 1923 and a Ph.D. in 1925. While at the University of Iowa Littlefield served as a graduate assistant to Arthur C. Trowbridge, who was also the professor that Littlefield studied under. After Iowa, Littlefield went into the oil industry with Gulf Oil Corporation, where he had a long and successful career. He eventually became Chief Geologist for Gulf Oil Co. and for a while Littlefield was William Madison Furnish's boss. Max Littlefield remained a friend of the geology department at the University of Iowa and assisted the department financially. Littlefield had a son Larry, who attended the University of Texas in Austin as an undergrad with Holmes Semken. Littlefield also had a daughter, Mary Jo, with his wife Lorraine. Max Littlefield passed away on December 24, 1967 in Westfield, New Jersey, which is where he lived at the time.
