Erberto Tealdi
da Mineralogical Record
Erberto Tealdi, editor of Rivista Mineralogica Italiana and a prominent member of the international mineral collecting community, was born in Florence, Italy on September 19, 1934, the son of Elis and Eliseo Tealdi. Eliseo was in the bookbinding business all his life and for many years he managed large industrial bookbinding companies. Erberto's grandfather, Tealdo Tealdi, was born in the U.S., his family having emigrated there from Florence, Italy; when he graduated from high school his parents gave him a gift vacation in Italy to meet his relatives, and he liked it so much that he never returned to the U.S. He became a polyglot and an expert in art history, and is known to have acted as a guide for important aristocratic visitors to Florence.
Erberto completed his education at the Polytechnic Institute in Milan, where he earned a Doctor of (Civil) Engineering degree in 1959. He then served as Assistant Professor at the Institute, and worked as a professional engineer and manager of several construction companies until his death.
His interest in mineralogy began in the mid-1960's, and he soon joined the Lombardy Mineral Club (Gruppo Mineralogico Lombardo). He was keenly interested in mineralogical culture as well as mineralogy, and took the position of Editor for Rivista Mineralogica Italiana in 1984. His experience with technical publications in the engineering field served him well, and he was able to elevateRivista from a local club newsletter to a full-fledged, multi-lingual, beautifully illustrated journal with an international circulation of 2,000 copies. He was also a fine graphic designer and illustrator, whose specimen sketches appeared frequently in Rivistaand other publications.
Erberto was fluent in Italian, English and French, and knew some German as well. He even had a command of various accents; when speaking to someone from Tuscany, for example, he would instantly switch from his accentless Italian to pure Florentine-Italian. He had very good knowledge of the arts--architecture, painting and also classical music.
Tealdi's publications in mineralogy include a full-issue review on Franklin minerals (1993), a series on North American zeolites (1984-1985), and a glossary of technical terminology in mineralogy and geology (1991), among other works. Energetic and multi-talented, he had many friends throughout Italy, Europe and America.
Erberto Tealdi died of a brain tumor on March 10, 1996, at the age of 61. His collection numbered about 6,000 specimens, with specialties in systematic mineralogy (about 2,400 species) and U.S. minerals (especially Colorado pegmatite minerals). About half of his collection (mostly cabinet-size specimens) was purchased by family friend and mineral dealer Ulrich (Uli) Burchard of Freising, Germany and was then dispersed to other collectors and dealers. The remainder included a micromount collection and a thumbnail collection of about 1,500 specimens each. The micromounts were purchased by collector Domenico Preite of Garbagnate, Milano. The thumbnails were purchased by Renato Pagano of Cinisello Milano, who also acquired several larger specimens from Uli Burchard
