Timothy Ray Nearing, 51, an accomplished petroleum engineer in the Gulf region for more than two decades, died on Christmas Day at Our Lady of Lourdes Regional Medical Center from complications of mantle cell lymphoma after a courageous three-year battle.

Tim’s life revolved around his children, Sarah, 19, a student at the University of Louisiana at Lafayette, and son, Scott, 16, a sophomore at Lafayette High School. He was an inspired cook who took to the cuisine of his adopted Southern home, and enjoyed being able to garden here year-round, something not possible in his home state of New York. He was an avid Pittsburgh Steelers football fan and loved tinkering with his beloved vintage Plymouth Barracuda, hoping to make it one day road-worthy again.
Tim was born April 19, 1959, in Oswego, N.Y., along the shores of Lake Ontario, to Marie (Wood) and George Ray Nearing.

He spent his childhood years in upstate New York, in Morrisville, Madison County, and later in Hancock, Delaware County, where the two branches of the Delaware River combine on their long journey to the sea. As a student, he was interested in marine biology and played both basketball and football for Hancock Central High School, where he was his class salutatorian.

Tim attended Marietta College in Ohio, where he earned a degree in petroleum engineering in 1981. After working for Columbia Gas in Charleston, W. Va., Tim moved to College Station, Tx., to obtain a master’s degree in petroleum engineering from Texas A&M in 1988.

He then moved to Lafayette, where he worked for several local companies, including Flores & Rucks Inc., and then Ocean Energy. In 2004, Tim was honored as a regional service award winner by the Society of Petroleum Engineers.

After Ocean Energy was purchased and moved to Houston, Tim chose to remain in Lafayette, due to his many friends and colleagues there. He worked as a free-lance consulting engineer, was engineering vice president for Penta Resources LLC, and formed his own consulting business, Nereus Energy Advisors Inc.

Nereus is named for the Greek mythical character of the Old Man of the Sea, who was known for his truthfulness and virtue. Tim was also known for his straightforward and direct honesty in all his dealings.

During his illness, he exhibited those same traits, and endured numerous treatments both in Lafayette and the MD Anderson Cancer Center in Houston without any trace of complaint or self-pity, instead taking on each task as a problem to be directly dealt with to the best of his ability.

In addition to his children, Tim is survived by his former wife, Cindy (Lynch) Nearing, of Lafayette; his father, George R. Nearing and his step-mother, Kay Nearing, both of Hancock; his five brothers, Brian Nearing, of Rensselaer, N.Y.; Dennis Elliott, of Fairmont, W Va.; B. James Elliott, of Hancock; Henry Nearing, of Burlington, Ct., and Andrew Nearing, of Middlebury, Ct.; his two sisters, Diane Layman, of Hancock, and Jana Gillett, of Stittville, N.Y.; his step-grandmother, Kathleen Welch, of Leonardsville, N.Y.; and ten nieces and nephews.

A memorial service for Tim will be held Tuesday, December 28, 2010 at 7:00 PM in La Chapelle de Martin & Castille. Visitation will be at 6:00 PM at Martin & Castille’s DOWNTOWN location. Donations may be made in Tim’s name to The Leukemia & Lymphoma Society, Donor Services, P.O. Box 4072, Pittsfield, MA 01202.

Martin & Castille DOWNTOWN, 330 St. Landry Street, Lafayette, LA. 70506. 337-234-2311