Rena Joyce Gordon

Rena Joyce Gordon died November 24, 2005.

In the 1980s and 1990s she was a faculty member in the University of Arizona’s (UA) Department of Family and Community Medicine and directed the UA Medical School’s Rural Health Office. She was also the founding editor of the research journal Complementary Health Practice Review.

She earned a bachelor’s degree at Wayne State University in 1957, a master’s at University of Michigan in 1978, and a PhD in geography from Arizona State University in 1983.

Gordon was the author of the Arizona Rural Health Provider Atlas and co-editor of the books Alternative Therapies: Expanding Options in Health Care, and Encyclopedia of Complementary Health Practices.

Gordon retired in 2002 from Arizona State University East where she helped develop a new health and wellness baccalaureate degree.

Rena Joyce Gordon (Necrology). 2006. AAG Newsletter 41(3): 28.

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Sean Webster

Former geography professor at the University of North Texas (UNT) and retired Navy officer Sean Webster died on November 6, 2005. He was forty-six.

Webster was born in California in 1959. He moved to Texas before joining the Navy and serving as an electrician. He retired as a Lieutenant Commander. Webster earned an associates degree from Santa Ana College in 1987, a bachelor’s from University of New Mexico in 1989, and completed studies at Florida Institute of Technology in 1995. Webster came to UNT as a student in the fall of 1999 and graduated in the summer of 2004 with a master’s degree in applied geography. While completing his master’s degree, Webster served as a teaching assistant. After graduation, he became an adjunct professor at UNT, teaching courses in earth science, physical geology and culture, and environmental and society. Shortly before his death, he had accepted a full-time faculty position at Northeastern State University in Tahlequah, Oklahoma.

Sean Webster (Necrology). 2006. AAG Newsletter 41(6): 16.

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James Murry Hunter

James Murry Hunter, eighty-three, a longtime professor of geography at Georgetown University, died October 15 at his home in Rockville, Maryland of complications from a stroke.

Hunter joined the Georgetown faculty in 1946 and taught political geography until he retired in 1986. He was the author of Perspective on Ratzel’s Political Geography, published in 1983, and he co-wrote several other books on geography with other professors. He also was a visiting professor at Boston University and wrote numerous articles for professional journals.

Born in Homer City, Pennsylvania, Hunter graduated from Indiana University of Pennsylvania. He earned a master’s degree in geography from the University of Pittsburgh and a doctorate in geography from the University of Santo Domingo in the Dominican Republic.

During World War II, he served in the Army Corps of Engineers at Fort Belvoir.

He was a member of the American Association of Geographers and the American Association of University Professors.

James Murry Hunter (Necrology). 2005. AAG Newsletter 40(11): 17.

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John M. Hunter

John Melton Hunter was born in Windsor, Canada on January 1, 1928. His parents thereafter returned to the United Kingdom. John wase ducated at Bemrose School, Derby and went on to receive his Ph.D. in geography from the University of Reading in 1954. During his time at the University of Ghana, Legon, Accra, he was planning officer and adviser for the preparation and enumeration of area maps and census reports for the 1960 Ghana Census. After returning to Great Britain, he taught at the University of Durham from 1964 to 1967 before beginning his tenure at Michigan State University, East Lansing, Michigan in 1967.

Throughout his career at Michigan State University, he received numerous honors awards and appointments, including the Distinguished Faculty award in 1982, an Honors Award from the Association of American Geographers, 1983, Appointed to serve on the National Academy of Sciences, National Research Council, Board of Science and Technology for International Development, Juba Valley Advisory Panel, 1986-88, Appointed Member of WHO Commission on Health and Environment, 1990-92, and University Distinguished Professor, 1990.

He is survived by his wife, Kathleen, two children and three step children.

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Wade Currier

Wade Richardson Currier died September 18, 2005 at age seventy-seven. He was a long-time professor at Rowan University and served as Department Chair from 1983 to 1989.

Currier earned his BA and MA in geography from George Washington University and did post graduate work in geography at Clark University. He began his career with the U.S. Geological Survey and continued as a civilian with the U.S. Army Map Service, contributing research that led to the selection of the first lunar landing sites for NASA’s Apollo missions.

In 1965 Currier began at Rowan University as a professor of geography. He served as Chair of the Department of Geography and Anthropology from 1983 to 1989. In 2000 he retired from Rowan but continued to teach as an adjunct professor through 2004.

Wade Currier (Necrology). 2006. AAG Newsletter 41(6): 16.

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Gimpel Wajntraub

Dr. Gimpel Wajntraub, retired Head of the Department of Obstetrics and Gynecology at the Shaarae Zedek Medical Center in Jerusalem, Israel, and active member of the Bible Geography Specialty Group (BGSG), died September 9, 2005 in Jerusalem. He developed an interest in old maps of the Holy Land, co-edited the Israeli Map Collector Society’s Journal, wrote almost one hundred articles and a number of books including Hebrew Maps of the Holy Land, and attended the Annual Meetings of the AAG contributing papers in “Geography of the Bible” sessions. Gimpel amassed a very large “maps of the Holy Land” and “books on the Holy Land” collection.  He co-authored two articles, with his wife Eva, in the BGSG’s new book, Geography of the Holy Land:  Perspectives. The work of Gimpel and his wife Eva was featured in a April 22, 2005, article about geography of the Bible in the Intermountain Jewish News and about their papers presented at the AAG’s Annual Meeting in Denver 2005.

GImpel Wajntraub (Necrology). 2006. AAG Newsletter 41(1): 29.

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John Gertken

AAG member John Anthony Gertken died August 10, 2005, at age sixty-one in Lake St. Louis, Missouri.

Born April 27, 1944, Gertken was a 1962 graduate of Christian Brothers College Military Institute in St. Louis. He served in the U.S. Naval Reserve and attended Marquette University in Wisconsin, where he was a member of the U.S. Naval Reserve Academy.

Gertken spent over forty years as professional in the business of conveyor and automated handling systems. He earned an associates degree in 2003 from St. Charles Community College and shortly before his death graduated from Southern Illinois University at Edwardsville, Cum Laude, with a BS in geography.

John Anthony Gertken Jr. (Necrology). 2006. AAG Newsletter 41(6): 16.

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Catherine Cox

Fifty year AAG member Catherine E. Cox has died. Born October 12, 1914 in Minnesota she earned a BE at University of Minnesota-Duluth in 1936 and an MA at Clark University in 1942. Cox taught at Michigan State Normal College in Ypsilanti (1942-43) before serving in the WAVES (Women Accepted for Volunteer Emergency Service, a division of the U.S. Navy for females) during World War II. As of 1946, she was in charge of the Hydrographic Liaison Office in Washington, D.C. and in the early fifties served as an Instruction Officer of Recruit Training for the U.S. Navy in Bainbridge, Maryland. She retired as a Lieutenant Commander from the Navy Reserves in 1970.

Cox was also college geography professor at Fitchburg State College in Fitchburg, Massachusetts from 1964 to 1976.

Catherine Cox (Necrology). 2006. AAG Newsletter 41(8): 22.

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William Wood

Bill Wood, Deputy Assistant Secretary for Analysis and Production, U.S. Department of State, died July 4, 2005.  Wood was a prime mover in incorporating modern geographic technologies, in particular geographic information systems and imagery, to improve the U.S. government’s response to pressing issues of foreign policy. Wood also served as the Geographer of the United States.

Born November 14, 1956, Wood earned his undergraduate degree from the University of California at Berkeley in urban planning and non-renewable resources in 1980. He then obtained his master’s in urban and regional planning, and his PhD in geography from the University of Hawaii in 1985. Wood joined the Bureau of Intelligence and Research (INR) in 1985 as a geographer with the Office of the Geographer, and dedicated his entire government career to the Bureau of Intelligence and Research.  After entering the Senior Executive Service in 1990, he served as Director of the Bureau of Intelligence and Research (INR) Office of the Geographer and Global Issues. He was appointed as Deputy Assistant Secretary for Analysis and Production in 2002 while continuing to serve concurrently as Geographer of the United States. Among his many awards, he received the Anderson Medal in Applied Geography in 2001 from the Association of American Geographer’s Applied Geography Specialty Group. Wood was widely published on a variety of global issues including HIV diffusion and environment-migration linkages to complex emergency response. He co-edited Reordering the World – Geopolitical Perspectives on the 21st Century with George Demko.

Wood recognized the value of remote sensing and geographic information for diplomacy and humanitarian efforts and worked persistently in the diplomatic community to expand their use. Among some of his more notable accomplishments are his negotiations for the release of Shuttle Radar Topography Mission data for humanitarian and sustainable development uses. The Humanitarian Information Unit established by the Secretary of State in 2002, was based on his proposal to use geographic data, science, and information management tools to help coordinate humanitarian emergency response efforts. Wood was at the forefront of developing and implementing the concept of Internet-based information networks to provide critical “early-warning” information of humanitarian crises. He also worked with the Department of Defense Coalition Provisional Authority in Baghdad, where he spearheaded the creation of a GIS-based tracking system for U.S.-funded reconstruction projects.

William B. Wood III (Necrology). 2005. AAG Newsletter 40(8): 29.

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Keiichi Takeuchi

Keiichi Takeuchi died on June 26, 2005. He was a major influence in establishing bridges between the Japanese and Western cultures and in promoting collaboration between scientists.

Born July 12, 1932, Takeuchi graduated from the University of Tokyo in 1956 with a degree in geography, and in 1959 earned a master’s degree from the same institution. From 1966 to 1994, he taught at Hitotsubashi University of Tokyo on the faculty of social science, serving as Dean from 1988 to 1990 and later Professor Emeritus after his retirement from Hitotsubashi in 1994. He went on to teach in the Department of Geography at the University of Komazawa, Tokyo, until March 2003.Takeuchi was visiting professor at many institutions around the world including the University of Ireland, Galway (1973-74), Luigi Bocconi University in Milan, Italy (1974), the University of Indonesia, Jakarta (1975-77), the University of Paris VII, France (1985-86), and at Sheffield University, Great Britain (1985-86). He also gave lectures in many universities in Japan and abroad. His main interest was human geography. Starting in 1950 he dedicated himself to the study of Mediterranean regions, especially southern Italy. He spoke Italian and served as a Director of the Italian-Japanese Cultural Center. He was also Chair of the Commission on the History of Geographical Thought within the International Union of the History and Philosophy of Science (IUHPS), President of the Association of Japanese Geographers (1994-96), and President of the Japanese Association of Economic Geographers (1994-2000). Takeuchi was also a member of the International Geographical Union, the Societa Geografica Italiana, Societe de Geographie Francaise, and the Academia Geografica Argentina.He published numerous papers and books on these topics not only in Japanese but also in other languages. Among his works in Japanese are Topologue (Tokyo, 1992), Experiences of Nineteen Senior Geographers (co-author, 1999), and Data-Book of the World Countries (2000). His writings in English include Modern Japanese Geography: An Intellectual history (2000), and 1945-1964: A Japanese Perspective in the edited volume Japan: A Self-Potrait, Photographs 1945-1964 (M. Feustel, ed, Flammarion, Paris, 2004, also in French and later published in Japanese by Iwanami-shoten).

Keiichi Takeuchi (Necrology). 2005. AAG Newsletter 40(8): 29.

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