Dear Clay Colleagues,  It is with great sadness that I write to inform you of the passing of one of our dearest leading clay scientist and soil mineralogist, Dr. Joe B. Dixon, on August 31, 2022. [https://callawayjones.com/archives/obits/joe-boris-dixon](https://urldefense.com/v3/__https:/callawayjones.com/archives/obits/joe-boris-dixon__;!!KwNVnqRv!D45Mjihuik9beKcFi8p4JoIClU_uR2kihbQC7ZFjIwPCQnxd5oSXlBhJX-4rwuiYl8y0_cb3x8jVjjM8gsaAL0RU$ "https://urldefense.com/v3/__https:/callawayjones.com/archives/obits/joe-boris-dixon__;!!KwNVnqRv!D45Mjihuik9beKcFi8p4JoIClU_uR2kihbQC7ZFjIwPCQnxd5oSXlBhJX-4rwuiYl8y0_cb3x8jVjjM8gsaAL0RU$") A memorial service will be held at Crestview Retirement Community (Bryan, Texas, USA) on Saturday, September 17, 2022 at 3:00pm.  Dr. Dixon was a former president of the Clay Minerals Society and the 1991 recipient of the Marilyn and Sturges W. Bailey Distinguished Member Award of the Clay Minerals Society (CMS), the highest honor of CMS.    Through his career, Dr. Dixon has influenced many scientists worldwide in clay and soil sciences through his publications, presentations, teaching, and personal interactions. Many of us have at least one copy of his books, “Minerals in Soil Environments (1977, 1989)”/”Soil Mineralogy with Environmental Applications (2002),” on our bookshelves.  His open mind, inspirational conversations, and charming personality have encouraged students and young colleagues to explore the unknowns and the exciting territories in the nanometer-world of clay minerals. Even after this retirement in 2001, he continued to attend nearly all of the national and international clay and soil conferences in the USA, Asia, and Europe (with his personal financial support), giving presentations, and learning new progress in the sciences he loved. He was still reading *Clays and Clay Minerals* and *Science* in his late years when his health allowed him to do so.   To encourage more students to study soil and clay minerals, he and his wife established the “Joe Boris and Martha Jane Dixon Graduate Endowment in Soil Mineralogy” at Texas A&M University, and two “Joe B. and Marth Dixon Soil Mineralogy Awards” in the Soil Mineralogy Division of the Soil Science Society of America.  Please keep the family of Dr. Joe B. Dixon, in your thoughts and prayers as they mourn his passing and celebrate his life. Sincerely yours,  Youjun Deng, Ph.D. Associate Professor Soil and Clay Mineralogy Department of Soil and Crop Sciences Texas A&M University 370 Olsen BLVD College Station, TX 77843-2474 <https://soilcrop.tamu.edu/people/deng-youjun/> [yjd@tamu.edu](mailto:yjd@tamu.edu) \+1-(979)-862-8476