Sanford Bederman

Sanford H. Bederman, 89, of Johns Creek, Georgia, died on 19 August 2021 from complications of cancer. A graduate of the University of Kentucky and a U.S. Army veteran who served in Germany in the 1950s, he received his M.A. from Louisiana State University in 1957, and Ph.D. in Geography from the University of Minnesota in 1973.

Bederman began teaching at Georgia State College of Business Administration in 1959, and in 1974 he was promoted to Full Professor at what became Georgia State University. His primary area of interest was Africa, with time spent in the field in Nigeria, Cameroon, Tanzania, Kenya and Morocco pursuing research supported by the NSF, the Rockefeller Foundation and Georgia State University. Over the years, Bederman held several visiting professorships including at Queen Mary University, University of London.

Bederman was recognized as a gifted teacher who taught and advised generations of students and was also a prolific writer, with many publications including articles in The Oxford Companion to Exploration for which he served as the Africa Section editor.

Bederman retired from GSU in 1992, concluding 34 years of service. From 1993-95 he was a Visiting Professor at The University of Georgia, and thereafter he continued to teach at the Senior University of Greater Atlanta. Bederman was active in The Society for the History of Discoveries, serving as Executive Secretary in 2006. He was an Honorary Life Member of the Southeastern Division of the Association of American Geographers, and a Fellow of the Royal Geographical Society.

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John Herbert Galloway

John (‘Jock’) Herbert Galloway died on July 27, 2021 in Tweed, Ontario, after suffering several years with Alzheimer’s.

Jock, as he always preferred to be known, graduated with a BA in Geography from McGill University in Montreal in 1960, an MA in Geography from the University of California at Berkeley in 1961, and a PhD from University College London in 1965. His doctoral research, conducted under the supervision of Professor Clifford Darby, focused on the historical geography of Pernambuco in Northeastern Brazil, from 1770 to 1920. Jock was appointed a Lecturer at the University of Toronto, St. George in 1964, and then an Assistant Professor in 1965. He was promoted to Associate- and Full-Professor ranks in 1970 and 1977, respectively. Jock retired from the University in 2005 when he was appointed Professor Emeritus. During his many years at the University of Toronto, Jock was a devoted and much loved and respected member of the Department of Geography & Planning as well as at Victoria College where he was a long-time Fellow.

Jock’s research and publications focused on the historical geography of Brazil and the Caribbean, leading to his monograph, The Sugar Cane Industry. An historical geography from its origins to 1914 published by the Cambridge University Press in 1989. Exploring the global geographical diffusion of the sugar cane industry and its various branches, it is now considered a classic reference on the subject. Jock was a Fellow of the Royal Geographical Society and the American Geographical Society, and a member, among others, of the Canadian Association of Geographers (CAG) and the Barbados Museum and Historical Society. He served as Associate, Acting-Editor, and then Editor for the Canadian Geographer from 1966 to 1973, and on the editorial board of the Journal of Historical Geography from 1974 to 1978 and again from 1984 to 1994. He was the Review Editor for the Americas for the same journal from 1978 to 1983. From the late 1980s to the 2000s, Jock served on editorial boards for other periodicals including Latin American Studies, and the Luso-Brazilian Review of the University of Wisconsin Press. Pursuing his interest in sugar and his links with similarly minded people around the world, from 1994 to 2005 he co-edited the World Sugar History Newsletter. Over his long academic career, Jock published numerous articles and chapters, and delivered dozens of symposia papers and invited lectures. He also received several awards from his peers, including the Award for Scholarly Distinction from the CAG, and an Outstanding Teaching Award from the University of Toronto.

Jock will be remembered as a wonderful colleague and dedicated teacher. He was in personal life a Renaissance man, urbane, witty, multi-lingual, culturally engaged, and a great cook. Since his retirement, colleagues and students have often reminisced about seeing Jock in the hallways of Sidney Smith Hall, always dressed impeccably, and very often rushing with maps rolled under his arms, on his way to give a lecture. Jock will be remembered as a scholar as well as consummate gentleman who was always supportive of his colleagues and students.

5 August 2021

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Roger Kasperson

Former Clark Graduate School of Geography faculty member Roger Kasperson, passed away on Saturday, April 10. A major scholar in the fields of risk and environmental sustainability, Professor Kasperson had a nearly lifelong relationship with Clark and the GSG: he earned his B.A. in Geography from Clark in 1959, and returned to Clark as a faculty member in Geography and Government in 1968 after earning his M.A. and Ph.D. in Geography at the University of Chicago and teaching elsewhere for several years. He spent the majority of his career at Clark, in a variety of roles: in addition to being an assistant, associate, and full professor in our department, he headed a number of major centers and initiatives at Clark and served at various points as Acting Director of the GSG, Dean of the College, Provost and Vice President for Academic Affairs, and University Professor. He retained an appointment as a Research Faculty member in our department up until the time of his death.

Professor Kasperson was a major figure in the fields of risk analysis and communication, global environmental change, and vulnerability, sustainability, and resilience. As such, he worked closely with a variety of government agencies and NGOs, including the National Research Council, the International Geographical Union, and the Potsdam Institute for Climate Change. Perhaps most notably, he was the Executive Director of the Stockholm Environment Institute from 2000-2004. He was also an elected member of the National Academy of Sciences, the American Academy of Arts and Sciences, and the American Association for the Advancement of Science, and a recipient of honors from both the AAG and the Society for Risk Analysis.

Thank you to the Graduate School of Geography at Clark University for permission to publish this obituary. Original found here.

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Nancy Hultquist

Nancy B. Hultquist, retired Central Washington University (CWU) geography professor, died March 30th, 2021. During her geographic career she was an active member of the American Association of Geographers (over 50 years), the National Council for Geographic Education (NCGE), and the Washington Geographic Alliance (WGA). Nancy is remembered fondly by students, friends, and colleagues. She was quick to assist junior faculty and devoted countless hours to helping students find employment.

Like many geographers, Nancy was drawn to the field early in her academic career. Also, like many geographers, she had many non-academic interests including bowling, raising Brittneys, and playing the fiddle.

Born in 1943, Nancy grew up in Atlanta, GA where she lived near a 32-lane bowling alley. There she worked and became good at the sport. (Nancy holds the record of High Series (679) for Women in Moscow, ID.) She completed her undergraduate degree in 1965 at Georgia State University and then on to Graduate school, first at the University of Cincinnati and then on to the University of Iowa. Along the way she married John (also a geographer) in 1969. From the farming country of Iowa came the first Brittany. Then the University of Idaho beckoned (1974), and the three headed further west.

The Moscow university provided a split position that Nancy and John shared. Along the way she gained knowledge and teaching experience using computers to make detailed maps. Like so many of her contemporaries, Nancy started out with key-punch cards and eventually moved on to Geographic Information Systems (GIS). Countless K-12 teachers were introduced to the early iterations of making maps and GIS through NCGE workshops she participated in with Paul Baumann.

In 1988, Nancy joined the CWU geography department as the first full-time, tenure-track woman faculty member. There, she became involved with an Army initiated (GRASS) GIS program. Initially the program used CWU faculty to do mapping for the Army’s Yakima Firing Center/Training Center. Nancy expanded the program to include undergraduate GIS classes and was instrumental in moving the program along. Her popular classes grew, and she soon had students presenting their GIS projects at professional meetings. It is little wonder that, as an advisor, she supervised more interns than any other geography department faculty.

Other than her love of geography and dogs, (their kennel name – Cedaridge Brittanys – was known throughout the Nation) Nancy was also a talented musician. She first played the fiddle at the age of 4 and, as an additional outlet for her boundless energy, joined a group named Kittitas Valley Fiddlers and Friends. Heart issues from a childhood case of Rheumatic fever ended her academic career, but only interrupted her fiddle playing. Major heart surgery came in 2009. Her surgeon told her she was spared because there was more for her to do on Earth.

As she recovered and gained stamina, Nancy began to take a larger role in the music of the Kittitas Valley Fiddlers and Friends. They played at elder care facilities in Ellensburg and other venues in the area, especially at the Adult Activity Center. The photo accompanying this text is from this period. She considered the entertainment provided to the residents of the valley in these facilities one of her best experiences.

Nancy was known as a great teacher and an even greater supporter of student success. She maintained a jobs list of employment opportunities across the Pacific Northwest which currently has over 800 subscribers. Many CWU alumni credit her tireless work to helping them launch their career. The list will continue, serving as a living memorial to her impact. Please take a moment to remember Nancy B. Hultquist as a shining light to students, colleagues, and friends.

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Allen G. Noble

Dr Allen G. Noble, Professor Emeritus at the University of Akron, Ohio and a longtime AAG member, passed away on March 24. He was 90 years old.

In his early career, Dr. Noble served as a United States Foreign Service Officer in Bombay, India, and Curitiba and Belém, Brazil. He went on to a distinguished academic and publishing career in regional, cultural, and physical geography. His book Wood, Brick, and Stone: The North American Settlement Landscape was nominated for a Pulitzer Prize in 1984. In the late 1980s, AAG recognized Dr. Noble with the AAG Honors, the highest award offered by the AAG. The Ohio Academy of Sciences cited him in their 100th Year Celebration as one of Ohio’s Distinguished Scientists.

Noble’s ability to keep his family goal oriented and organized will be greatly missed. He was predeceased by his daughter and is survived by his wife, two sons, four grandchildren and three great grandchildren

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William A. Dando

William A. Dando, Distinguished Professor of Geography and professor emeritus at Indiana State University, passed away on January 1, 2021, at the age of 86, after a brief illness. Throughout his life, he was an exemplar of a balanced academic life, excelling at research and teaching while also serving his communities: a true “gentleman” of geography.

William Arthur Dando was born in Newell, Pennsylvania on June 13, 1934 and grew up exploring the surrounding hills and valleys. He served in the Air Force from 1954-6, including a stint in Iceland. Under the G.I. Bill, Dando attended California University (PA), just across the river from Newell, earning his B.S in Geography and Mathematics in 1959. He received his M.S. in 1962 and Ph.D. in 1969 from the University of Minnesota, working with John Borchert. His dissertation was entitled “Grain or Dust; A Study of the Soviet New Lands Program 1954-1963.” This work began a lifelong interest in food production and Soviet agriculture.

Dando’s first teaching position was at the University of Maryland. In 1970, he received a Danforth Associateship, “awarded in recognition of good teaching and in humanizing the education process.” In 1972, he was awarded a Fulbright-Hays Postdoctoral Research Grant to study Romanian agriculture, becoming one of the first Americans to spend time on a communist collective farm.

Beginning in the early 1970s, he started leading geography field courses to the Soviet Union, allowing him to gather data behind the Iron Curtain while giving hundreds of students memorable field experiences. In addition to university students, he also took teachers and farmers on educational trips to the Soviet Union, making over twenty trips.

In 1975, Dando accepted a position at the Geography Department at the University of North Dakota, becoming chair of the program.

In 1980, Dando published The Geography of Famine (1980) which received international acclaim. In 1982, he contributed a chapter on “Man Made Famines” to Famine: Its Causes, Effects and Management which was recognized with the World Hunger Media Award by the United Nations.

Dando spent the 1981-82 academic year as a Senior Scholar at Chung Chi College of the Chinese University of Hong Kong.

Dando moved to Terre Haute in 1989 where he was the chair of the Department of Geography, Geology, and Anthropology at Indiana State University until his retirement in 2002. After retirement, he founded the “Senior Scholars Academy” at ISU, a pre- and post-retirement think-tank for retired faculty members dedicated to regional enhancement and community revitalization.

Throughout his years at the Universities of Maryland and North Dakota and then at Indiana State University he taught undergraduate and graduate classes, mentoring students of all levels as well as faculty. Michael DeMers, a beloved student and friend, dedicated his first book to Dando, writing: “I offer this work first to William A. Dando, who put my feet on the path of geographical knowledge and who has been an unwavering supporter of my work. He not only shared his knowledge and skills with me but, more importantly, he shared his time, his family and, above all, his love. No student ever received so much from an advisor. His has been the pattern that I have tried to emulate” (Fundamentals of Geographic Information Systems, 1997).

Dando was a prolific researcher and author, publishing over 29 books and monographs, 79 articles, book chapters, and encyclopedia entries, and two atlases. A scholar to the end, he continued to publish books and articles after his retirement, including Food and Famine in the 21st Century (2012) and Geography of the Holy Land: Jerusalem, Regional Cities, Small Towns, and Rural Places (2020). He had a knack for grant-writing and had numerous grants over his academic career, adding up to millions of dollars in funded research.

He received numerous awards for teaching, research and service from a variety of institutions and organizations, including from the University of Maryland, University of North Dakota, Indiana State University, the NCGE, the West Lakes Division of the AAG, and from the AAG.

At all the universities he worked at, Dando was active on campus, serving on university committees. He also gave numerous presentations to local organizations and advised various state offices on geography-related topics, including at one point the governor of North Dakota.

He worked with teachers to help improve the teaching of geography in schools in Maryland, North Dakota, and Indiana. His contributions to geographic education were recognized by awards from the Geographic Educators of Indiana, the National Council for Geographic Education, and the AAG.

Dando was a member of the AAG 60 years. He served the AAG in a variety of capacities: vice-chairman (1971) and chairman (1973-4) of the Middle Atlantic Division; as treasurer (1977-8) and chairperson (1978-9) for the Great Plains-Rocky Mountain Division; as a chairperson (1994-5) and regional councilor (1997-2000) for the West Lakes Division; on the AAG Proposal Writing Committee 1990-3; and chairperson of the Bible Specialty Group (1993-2021).

Former Executive Director of the AAG, Doug Richardson, a long-term friend of Bill Dando, noted that “Bill’s curiosity, energy, and wide-ranging scholarship, coupled with a deep commitment to his students, have made significant and enduring contributions to the discipline of geography. His big heart and his expansive vision will be missed by all.”

His deep interest in food and famine issues was not just academic. He was an active member of Centenary United Methodist Church of Terre Haute and he and wife Caroline worked its monthly “Fourth Monday” luncheon, a free meal to whoever needs it, just two days before his passing.

He leaves behind his wife and co-writer/editor Caroline Z. Dando; children Christina, Lara, and Bill (all geographers); four grandchildren — Emmaline, Anna, Alex, and John; and thousands of former students and mentees.

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Robert Thomas Kuhlken

Robert Thomas Kuhlken, retired professor of geography and former geography department chair at Central Washington University, died on January 1, 2021. He was 67.

Kuhlken was a lifelong scholar, educator, and tireless observer of the natural world. He was more comfortable outdoors than in, and always eager to explore new terrain. He studied at the University of Virginia at Wise and Oregon State University and was awarded a Fulbright fellowship to study agricultural terracing in the Fiji Islands while earning his doctoral degree in geography from Louisiana State University.

His specialization in human geography and his focus on land management fit perfectly with his desire to learn and explore. He favored traveling via public transportation on excursions throughout Mexico, South America, Polynesia, New Zealand, and Europe to get an unfiltered view of the local culture.

Kuhlken brought the results of these travels to the classroom, sharing his firsthand experience with his students. He taught college geography for more than three decades, spending most of his career at Central Washington University in Ellensburg, Washington, where he retired in 2015 as professor emeritus in geography.

He taught thousands of students at CWU. Countless first-year students with little knowledge of the rest of the world were captivated by Kuhlken’s enthusiastic spirit of adventure, his colorful stories, and deep insights into human and physical landscapes across the globe.

Kuhlken also taught courses focused on cultural geography, Oceania and North America, and urban and regional planning. His planning courses drew, in part, on his nearly 10 years of experience as a professional planner in Oregon before beginning his academic career. Quite a few of his students have gone on to successful careers as planners themselves.

As a scholar, Kuhlken’s work emphasized cultural ecology, historical geography, and environmental literature. He co-authored A Rediscovered Frontier: Land Use and Resource Issues in the New West which Rowman & Littlefield published in 2006.

He also published on topics as varied as Pacific archeology, zydeco music, and arson. In more recent years, his passion for fishing led to new scholarship on the geography of recreational fishing and the sport of angling.

More than anything, Kuhlken loved to be outdoors with friends and family—hiking, fishing, sailing, biking, gardening or just feeding the birds in the backyard. In remembrance, please donate to the National Park of your choice.

He is survived by his wife, Cynthia McGill Kuhlken; his stepson, Jeff Acker; and his brothers William Kuhlken, Kevin Kuhlken, and Karl Kuhlken.

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Lynn Staeheli

Lynn Staeheli, a professor and former head of the School of Geography and Regional Development at the University of Arizona, passed away December 20, 2020 at her home in Tucson, AZ. Professor Staeheli studied at Penn State and went on to complete her PhD at the University of Washington in 1989. She joined the Geography Department of the University of Colorado-Boulder as an assistant professor in 1989, eventually promoted to full professor. She taught urban, political, and feminist geography and was graduate advisor for over a dozen PhD graduates while at CU. In 2005, Staeheli joined the faculty at the University of Edinburgh in Scotland, and was subsequently a professor at the University of Durham in the UK. In 2015, Staeheli became the head of the School of Geography and Regional Development at the University of Arizona, a post she held for four years. In addition to her distinguished research, she had an admirable commitment to social justice and to mentoring students and early career scholars around the world. Her research focused on what she called the “big, contentious topics” such as the nature and spatial dimensions of democracy, citizenship, and politics. More concretely, her research topics included publicly accessible space, protest and activism, immigration and refugees, and the role of faith, religion, and spirituality in public life. At the time of her death, Staeheli was working on three projects: public life and democracy in the US and UK; youth and politics in divided societies (Bosnia-Herzegovina, Lebanon, and South Africa); and refugees from the MENA region to Europe. She is survived by her husband, retired Professor of Geography, Nel Caine, and her sons.

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Tyrel (Tink) Moore

It is with great sadness that we announce the passing of Dr. Tyrel (Tink) Moore, Professor Emeritus in Geography and Earth Sciences, on September 14, 2020. A scholar of the South, Tink arrived at University of North Carolina Charlotte in 1982. It is estimated that he taught more than 20,000 undergraduates as well as a significant portion of the Charlotte region’s urban planners.

Above all, Tink was a devoted educator who loved the classroom, but who also used his calm demeanor to shepherd many nervous Assistant Professors, Lecturers, Graduate Students, and Part-time Instructors through their first few years of teaching (and even helped some of them move!). Tink never failed to have time for those who needed his help, advice or perspective. Tink’s talent for teaching and mentoring was widely recognized: he received the UNC Board of Governors Award for Excellence in Teaching in 2004 and the Bank of America Award for Teaching Excellence in 2003. Tink was also a great evangelist for geography and served as the President of the Southeastern Division of the American Association of Geographers in 2001 and received the organization’s Lifetime Achievement Award in 2009. It’s been said by many that Tink’s greatest strength was being good to people and his belief in intellectual and professional humility. Tink will be greatly missed.

There will be a celebration of his life when we can gather together safely. People can donate in his honor to benefit students to the “Dr. Tink Moore Memorial Fund” by notating a donation to the UNC Charlotte “Department of Geography & Earth Science Fund” at giving.uncc.edu.

– Faculty at UNC Charlotte Department of Geography and Earth Sciences

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Sanford Bederman

John Herbert Galloway

Roger Kasperson

Nancy Hultquist

Allen G. Noble

William A. Dando

Robert Thomas Kuhlken

Lynn Staeheli

Curtis C. Roseman

Tyrel (Tink) Moore