Obituary of Necmettin Mungan

March 1, 1934 - Mardin, Turkey

May 11, 2024 - Calgary, Alberta

Necmettin “Nick” Mungan, of Calgary, AB, died on Saturday, May 11, 2024, at the age of 90 years.

He was the founding head of the Petroleum Recovery Institute based at the University of Calgary from 1966 to 1978, essentially pioneering scientific research in Alberta into petroleum recovery.

Necmettin was born in Cizre, Turkey, just kilometres from both the Syrian and Iraqi borders, on March 10, 1933. As was common in that region, his father eventually registered his birth late, as March 1, 1934. When the Turkish government made him stateless in the 1960s for political reasons, they wiped the very record of his birth off their registers. He grew up in Diyarbakir in a tiny single room, crowded with three brothers and three sisters, his parents, and a grandfather.

His father was a poor schoolteacher of Arabic origin, with a violent temper, and his mother was illiterate and orphaned during World War I, though by the time of her death, she was both a Hajja (pilgrim to Mecca) and Hafiza (someone who can recite the Qur’an from memory). In short, a tempestuous and intellectual family against all odds. When Necmettin was a teenager, his mother divorced Necmettin’s father for having an affair with one of his students, and fled with her children from Diyarbakir to Istanbul, 1450 km away, with no income.

Necmettin entered Istanbul Technical University at the age of seventeen to study engineering and coached high school students to help support his family. Then, he won a fully funded national scholarship to take his B.A. in the United States in 1953. He would never see his mother again, nor return to Turkey until 1977. He took four degrees in eight years – bachelor’s degrees in engineering and mathematics, and an M.Sc. and Ph.D. in petroleum engineering, all at the University of Texas, Austin.

But the most important thing that happened to him in Austin was meeting a Swedish 18-year-old, Gunilla, who had won a scholarship for her first year of university there in 1958. They married against the opposition of both families in 1962, had two children in Tulsa, Oklahoma, and moved to Calgary in late 1966, where they had two more children. They became Canadian citizens in 1972, after nine years during which, though carrying only a “displaced person” certificate instead of a passport, Necmettin travelled the world, including Maoist China and the Soviet Union. A specialist in enhanced oil recovery and carbon dioxide flooding, he won every award the Society of Petroleum Engineers had in its offering.

He retired only when his beloved wife, Gunilla, became too ill with Alzheimer’s to be left alone, in 2014. By the time she died on November 1, 2023, he too had been diagnosed with dementia. Always passionate and stubborn, he died just six months after her, eight days before what would have been their 62nd wedding anniversary, leaving four children and eight grandchildren to grieve across North America and Europe.

Necmettin and Gunilla’s joint Memorial Service will be held at McInnis & Holloway (Park Memorial, 5008 Elbow Drive SW, Calgary, AB) on Saturday, June 15, 2024, at 2:00 p.m. Reception to follow in the Hospitality Centre at the Funeral Home.

Condolences, memories, and photos may be shared and viewed with Nick’s family here.

In living memory of Necmettin "Nick" Mungan, a tree will be planted in the Ann & Sandy Cross Conservation Area by McInnis & Holloway Funeral Homes, Park Memorial, 5008 Elbow Drive SW, Calgary, AB T2S 2L5, Telephone: 403-243-8200.