Wilbur Zelinsky

Wilbur Zelinsky, professor emeritus at Penn State University, died on May 4, 2013, at age 91. He was born in Chicago, Illinois in 1921. Described as a cultural geography icon and explorer of American life and significance, he used his eyes to observe the differences in human landscape, while studying and using data to find deeper information. He inspired countless students to examine culture, literature and music.

From 1959-1973, he held many levels of leadership roles for the Association of American Geographers, including president from 1972-1973.

During his career, AAG recognized his contributions and achievements. In 2006, Zelinsky was given the AAG Presidential Achievement Award for his long and distinguished career in geography; for the influence of his publications across a wide range of topics in human geography; and for his early and fervent support for the incorporation of more women into the discipline. He received the AAG John Brinckerhoff Jackson Prize in 1992 for his book, The Cultural Geography of the United States. And in 1966, the association awarded him Honors for Meritorious Contributions.

During AAG’s 2005 annual meeting, the Cultural Geography Specialty Group honored him at special sessions (I and II). The contents of those seminars resulted in a special tribute issue of The Geographical Review.

Joseph Wood, professor and provost at the University of Baltimore once noted, “For six decades Wilbur Zelinsky has been an original and authentic voice in American cultural geography. His curiosity is endless, his intellectual appetite voracious. He seeks human meaning in every facet of material life and every corner of the American scene.”

Among Zelinsky’s many awards, he also received a Guggenheim Fellowship for geography and environmental studies in the social sciences in 1980 and the Cullum Geographical Medal of the American Geographical Society in 2001.

His large body of work includes more than 200 books, atlases, chapters, articles, reviews, reports and other writings.

He received his bachelor’s degree in 1944 and his doctorate in 1953 from the University of California, Berkeley. He graduated from the University of Wisconsin in 1946 with a master’s degree.

During World War II, he served as a map draftsman with several companies. He then worked as a terrain analyst for the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers in occupied Germany. After the war, Zelinsky accepted an appointment from 1948 to 1952 at the University of Georgia. From 1952-1954, he returned to the University of Wisconsin as a researcher.

From the mid- to late-50s, he was an industrial location analyst for the Chesapeake & Ohio Railway during which time he also was an adjunct professor at Wayne State University. He then taught at Southern Illinois University for a few years before joining the department of geography at Penn State University in 1963. He remained there for the duration of his career.

Zelinsky’s research and scholarship linked many people and disciplines. His work in the 1960s with Penn State professors of sociology, economics and anthropology created a population research center, which would later become the Graduate Program in Demography. From 1972-1973, he served as the first director of what is now the Population Research Institute. He also served as chair of the geography department and was a fixture at the weekly Coffee Hour promoting interdisciplinary scholarship and collegiality.

Peirce F. Lewis, professor emeritus at Penn State once wrote, “… Wilbur Zelinsky had been an icon to me long before I ever met him—and that was back in the early 1960s. In fact, Wilbur Zelinsky was one of the few icons that I knew about in geography, although I did not think to call him that. To me … Zelinsky’s insight seemed a vision from on high.”

He also played the violin. In 1967, he performed during the State College Music Guild’s first concert featuring Bach’s Brandenberg Concerto No. 5 at the Central Pennsylvania Festival of the Arts. Although the group has changed it’s name to the Nittany Valley Symphony since that first concert, Zelinsky had continued to play in the violin section right up through the February 16, 2013, concert featuring “Bohemian Rhapsody.”

Symphony Executive Director Roberta Strebel remarked, “It’s funny, you know. I never really thought of Wilbur as being a long-time professor of geography. I always thought of him as a violinist.”

Zelinsky’s lifelong explorations connected people both personally and professionally. The field of cultural geography and the greater communities in which he participated will continue to be stimulated by his example.

A memorial service, reception and gathering was held to remember his life.

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Gary Hausladen

Gary Hausladen, long-time professor of geography at University of Nevada, Reno, died on April 8, 2013, at the age of 66. During his more than 25 years at the university, he was respected and honored by all. His awards include the university’s Alan Bible Teaching Excellence Award, College of Arts & Sciences and the Tibbitts Distinguished Teacher Award, the university system’s Regents’ Teaching Award. He also received CASE’s Nevada Professor of the Year for Excellence in Teaching, National Council for Geographic Education’s Distinguished Teaching Achievement Award and the Wilbur S. Shepperson Humanities Book Award for Western Places, American Myths: How We Think About the West.

Hasladen earned his Ph.D. in 1983 and M.A. in 1979 in geography from Syracuse University and received his B.A. in 1969 in political science from Stanford University. After attending Stanford, he joined the Air Force and served as a C130 pilot in Vietnam and Cambodia. During his military service, he became fluent in Russian and later traveled to Moscow as a Fulbright Scholar.

Before settling down at the U. of Nevada, Reno, he taught at the University of Massachusetts, Amherst, and at Southwest Texas State University. During his time in Nevada, he established and served as the director of the Geography Alliance in Nevada (GAIN) to support teachers in building solid foundations in geography for students in grades K-12.

He was married to his wife Marilyn for 46 years and had three children.

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David Smith

David A. Smith, professor emeritus at SUNY at Buffalo, died on March 28, 2013, at age 83. During his more than 30 years of service at the university, he served part of it as director of graduate studies in the geography department. He was a member of the Association of American Geographers and the National Railway Historical Society.

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Robert Morris Crisler

Bob Crisler, a regional geographer who spent much of his career at University of Louisiana-Lafayette, passed away on March 23, 2013, aged 92.

Robert Morris Crisler was born on January 5, 1921 in Columbia, Missouri. Although his father was a professor of veterinary medicine at the University of Missouri, he seems to have developed an early fascination for regional geography. A childhood friend remembered how, by the time he was in grade school, he could name every town on Highway 40 from St. Louis to Kansas City and state how far apart they were.

After attending Hickman High School, Crisler gained a place at the University of Missouri, graduating with a bachelor’s degree in geology in 1941. He then moved to graduate school at Northwestern University in Illinois but was subsequently drafted into the army after America became involved in World War II.

He served with the 88th Division in North Africa and in the Italian campaign. He left the military in February 1946 as a first lieutenant, having received a Purple Heart after he was shot in the arm and an oak leaf when shrapnel injured his back.

Crisler returned to Northwestern to complete his master’s degree (1947) and doctorate (1949) in geography. His thesis was entitled “An Experiment in Regional Delimitation: the Little Dixie Region of Missouri,” which looked at the geopolitics of that region of Missouri. Many sources credit him for coining and fully defining the term ‘Little Dixie.’

His first teaching assignment was at Washington University in St. Louis, starting in 1948, until he was recalled to the military during the Korean conflict. He was assigned to the Pentagon and worked for the CIA as an intelligence officer.

After discharge in 1952, he returned to teach at Washington University until 1954 when he moved to Southwestern Louisiana Institute and University of Southwestern Louisiana (now known as University of Louisiana-Lafayette) where he stayed until retirement. He was a professor of geography and served as head of the department of social studies. During this period he also served as a Louisiana state representative from 1972 to 1976 for District 45.

Crisler stayed in Lafayette for the remainder of his life. He was involved various local organizations including the Louisiana Retired Teachers Association, American Legion Post 69, Pinhook Rotary Club, Louisiana Historical Association, and First Lutheran Church in Lafayette. He was also involved in SCORE, counseling new business owners. In addition, he was a member of Mizzou Alumni Association, the Geological Sciences Alumni of the University of Missouri, and The Honor Society of Phi Kappa Phi.

It was for a particular hobby, though, that Crisler was noted. Throughout his life he was an avid collector of license plates. His son, Charles, reminisced about how the interest first developed: “Some people look at license plates when they drive and play games with them. Well, we decided we’d get one from each state. And then we wanted to get one from each year.” Together they amassed 3,000 license plates at one point. He was a member of the Automobile License Plate Collectors Association, attending meets and conventions all around the country and serving the club in many capacities, including several years as its president.

Crisler was predeceased by his first wife, Shirley Spohn, who passed away in 1978, and by his second wife, Freda Glenn Erickson, who passed away in 2012. He is survived by two sons, six grandchildren, and three great-grandchildren.

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Donald Deskins

Donald Deskins, Jr. was a native of Brooklyn, New York. He earned his B.A., M.A., and Ph.D. degrees from the University of Michigan in 1960, 1963, and 1971, respectively. He was on the faculty of the Department of Geography at the University of Michigan from 1968 to 2002, and Chair of the Department from 1974 – 1979.   When the Department was discontinued in 1982, Professor Deskins joined the Department of Sociology as professor of urban geography and sociology.

In his highly productive career, Professor Deskins made important scholarly contributions to our understanding of racial dynamics in American society. His research spanned such diverse topics as residential segregation, the construction of urban space, racial factors in site location and employment patterns, economic restructuring and teen pregnancy, and changing higher educational opportunities for minority graduate students. In addition, Professor Deskins produced numerous reports on community and economic development commissioned by the National Academy of Sciences and state and local governments.  A demanding but compassionate mentor, Professor Deskins guided countless doctoral students, many from historically under-represented backgrounds, to the successful completion of their degrees. For his superior accomplishments, Professor Deskins has already received numerous University and national awards and honors.

For his many accomplishments, Deskins was selected to receive the inaugural Harold M. Rose Award for Anti-Racism Research and Practice, awarded at the 2013 AAG Annual Meeting.  He died before being able to accept the award in person.

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LeRoy Myers

LeRoy Myers, a former professor of geography and city planner, died Feb. 17, 2013. A native of Pennsylvania, Myers studied at Penn State where he earned his bachelor’s degree. He later graduated from the University of Michigan with a master’s in geography. As a professor of geography, he taught at Slippery Rock University and WVU. Myers also worked in city planning for the cities of Williamsport, Meadville, and Lima in Ohio.

LeRoy also served in the army during World War II. His love of travel took him to all of Europe and much of East Asia, Africa, and Australia. Myers had a talent for photography and served as a member of the Masonic Lodge.

He is survived by two step children (Susan Miller and David Swanson) and relatives in the Clintonville, Pa., area.

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John B. Rehder

John B. Rehder of the University of Tennessee, Knoxville (UTK) has died at the age of 68. He was a cherished teacher and colleague in the UTK geography department and a well-known figure on the UTK campus, where he had taught since 1967. Rehder earned both a master’s degree (1965) and a Ph.D. from Louisiana State University (1971) and a bachelor’s degree from East Carolina University (1964).

A historical and cultural geographer, Rehder’s research focused on material folk culture as reflected in traditional architecture in the American South. A distinguished author, two of his books received prestigious awards. Delta Sugar: Louisiana’s Vanishing Plantation Landscape (1999) received the Vernacular Architecture Forum’s Abbott Lowell Cummings Award in 2000. Rehder was later presented with the Pioneer America Society’s Fred B. Kniffen Book Award for Appalachian Folkways (2004), a detailed account of southern Appalachia and its cultural milieu. Both books were published by Johns Hopkins University Press. Tennessee Log Buildings: A Folk Tradition is due to be published by the University of Tennessee Press in November of 2012.

John B. Rehder (Necrology). 2012. AAG Newsletter 47(7): 30.

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Louis C. DeVorsey

Louis C. DeVorsey, professor emeritus of geography at the University of Georgia, has died at the age of 83.

DeVorsey received a B.A. from Montclair State University in New Jersey and an M.A. in geography from Indiana University. He earned a Ph.D. in geography in 1965 from the University of London. DeVorsey entered the U.S. Navy Officer Candidate School in Newport News, Rhode Island, in 1954, where he was commissioned as an Ensign. At his death he held the rank of Commander, USNR-Retired.

DeVorsey worked at East Carolina University from 1962 to 1965 and at the University of North Carolina in Chapel Hill from 1965 to 1967. He then spent the following 21 years at University of Georgia, where he was promoted to professor in 1973. He retired in 1988.

DeVorsey produced an extensive list of impressive publications in the fields of exploration and discovery and the history of cartography. Some of the better known works he authored or edited include The Georgia-South Carolina Boundary: A Problem in Historical Geography (1982, reprinted 2008), The Indian Boundary in the Southern Colonies, 1763-1775 (1966), The Atlantic Pilot (1974), De Brahm’s Report of the General Survey in the Southern District of North America (1971), In the Wake of Columbus: Islands and Controversy (1985), and the award-winning Keys to the Encounter: A Library of Congress Resource Guide for the Study of the Age of Discovery (1992).

As an expert witness, DeVorsey appeared in at least five original actions before the U.S. Supreme Court in regard to litigation concerning sea and land boundaries. He conducted research for the U.S. Department of State in connection with the U.S.-Canada seaward boundary dispute in the Gulf of Maine. This case was adjudicated by the International Court of Justice at The Hague in the Netherlands, where he was one of three geographers who served as consultants to the U.S. Litigation Team.

The Association of American Geographers (AAG) presented DeVorsey with the AAG Award for Meritorious Contributions to the Field of Geography in 1975. In 1980, the University of Georgia Research Foundation presented him its Medal for Research Creativity in the Social Sciences. DeVorsey served the Society for the History of Discoveries as Vice President/President from 1979 to 1982, and he was named a fellow of the society in 2005.

Louis C. DeVorsey (Necrology). 2012. AAG Newsletter 47(6): 28.

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W. Rhoads Murphey III

W. Rhoads Murphey III, died of pneumonia on December 20, 2012, at his home in Ann Arbor, Mich. He was 93. A professor emeritus of the University of Michigan’s Department of History, Murphey arrived in 1964 as a professor of Asian studies and geography. He retired in 1990, but continued to write, teach and advise undergraduate students. He stayed as the director the university’s Asian studies program until it was reorganized in 1996.

Murphey was a four-time graduate of Harvard University, receiving his A.B. in history magna cum laude in 1941 and his M.A. in history in 1942. After World War II, he earned an M.A. in international and regional studies in 1948 and his Ph.D. in Far Eastern history and geography in 1950.

He enlisted during the war as a conscientious objector and served with the British Friends Ambulance Unit in China from 1942 to 1946. Although not a Quaker, Murphey attended a Friends School in his hometown of Philadelphia. That environment shaped his belief that “killing wouldn’t solve anything.” He resolved, however, to assist against the threat of the Axis powers. In the ambulance unit, Murphey and an international group of men drove old, charcoal-powered Chevrolet trucks throughout southwest China with medical supplies.

In traveling to such places as Kunming, Chunking, Yenan, Hanoi, Hong Kong and Shanghai, Murphey met Chiang Kai-Shek and Mao Tse-Tung. Hong Kong was just an “outpost of colonialism,” Murphey recalled, and nothing like the huge metropolis that it became in post-war history.

After finishing his doctorate, Murphey joined the department of geography at the University of Washington, Seattle, in 1952. He departed for the University of Pennsylvania in 1957, but returned the following year to the University of Washington. He remained there until heading to Michigan.

Murphey wrote more than 84 works in 218 publications, with translations into seven languages. He concentrated on history and geography drawn from his experiences in China and South Asia. His books included Shanghai: Key to Modern China (1953) and The Outsiders: Westerners in India and China (1977), the latter of which won a best book of the year award from the University of Michigan Press.

The University of Michigan gave Murphey its highest honor, the Distinguished Service Award, in 1974. Murphey also accepted AAG Honors in 1980.

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Josh Winheld

Josh Winheld died at the age of 32. Winheld was a master’s student in the Department of Geography and Urban Studies at Temple University. He was diagnosed with Duchenne muscular dystrophy at a very early age and was in a wheelchair since the age of 10. He obtained a bachelor’s degree in journalism before pursuing a master’s degree in urban studies. In 2009, Winheld published an autobiography, “Worth the Ride: My Journey with Duchenne Muscular Dystrophy,” chronicling his experiences living with DMD, and with disability in general.

Josh Winheld (Necrology). 2009. AAG Newsletter 45(6): 18.

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