Courtney Wilson

AAG member and University of Michigan Ph.D. student Courtney Wilson died on September 9, 2013 from a series of neurological events at the age of 27. Her work involved the use of satellite imagery to quantify how economic conditions affect changes to the physical landscape, and exploring how satellite imagery could be used to improve Census estimates. I worked with her when she was Lead Curriculum Designer for the Crossing Boundaries project through the Cornell Lab of Ornithology. I was always impressed by her dedication and expertise, but even more for her care for the Earth and everyone she met. I’ll never forget the look on her face as we parted ways at the AAG conference in Los Angeles – always looking forward to learning more. We will not forget you, Courtney.

Joseph J. Kerski
Education Manager
Esri

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Richard G. Reider

Richard G. Reider died August 14, 2013. He was 72 years old.

Richard Reider was born in Denver, Colorado and grew up in nearby Golden, Colorado. He attended the University of Northern Colorado where he received his B.A. in history in 1963, and his M.A. in geography in 1965. After teaching high school for a year in Edgewater, Colorado, he entered the University of Nebraska where he received his Ph.D. in geography in 1969. That same year he was hired by the University of Wyoming as an assistant professor. A physical geographer with interests in soils and paleoenvironments, Rick remained at Wyoming until his retirement in 2001. His teaching rotation included introductory physical geography, weather and climate, field methods, and landforms and soils.  Rick was well-published with much of his work focused on Wyoming and Colorado, and the Rocky Mountain West generally. He edited the Great Plains-Rocky Mountain Geographical Journal from 1976 to 1980.  Rick was an excellent mentor of graduate students, advising nearly three dozen during his career.  He also served as departmental chair in the mid-1980s and again in the early 1990s.

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John Dobosiewicz

Dr. John Dobosiewicz, past-president of the Middle States Division (2011), died unexpectedly at the age of 48 while travelling in Scotland on August 5, 2013.
At the time of his death, Dobosiewicz was Executive Director of the School of General Studies at Kean University, NJ. He began his work at Kean in 1993 as an adjunct, and joined the full-time faculty in September 2001 in the Department of Geology and Meteorology. He was named Executive Director of the School of General Studies in September 2010.
Dobosiewicz was also serving his second term on the Faculty Senate, where he was first elected in 2009. He served as secretary for the Faculty Senate from 2010 to 2012 and also on the University Planning Council (UPC), to which he was appointed in 2011. He earned the Presidential Excellence Award for Service in 2008 and was initiated into the National Honor Society of Phi Kappa Phi in May 2009, and had been serving as its President since September 2011.
Dobosiewicz received his Ph.D, in Geography from Rutgers University. His research interests were in hydrology, climatology, and GIS, and he had recent publications in Environmental Geosciences, the Journal of Geoscience Education and the Middle States Geographer.
John was a well-loved sports coach in his home town of Westfield, NJ, where he was known fondly as “Coach Dobo.” He was a member of the Westfield Soccer Association and the basketball, baseball and softball leagues, coaching both boys and girls teams. John is survived by his wife of 19 years, Diana Pereira, and four children, Hailey Paige, Christian John, Jack Tyler and Faith Madison.
The Dobosiewicz Children’s Education Fund (DCEF) has been established to help raise funds for the educational costs of John’s 4 school-age children. Donations can be made on their website.
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Lawrence M. Ostresh, Jr.

Lawrence “Larry” M. Ostresh died August 4, 2013. He was 70 years old.

Lawrence Ostresh was born in Granite City, Illinois. After high school he entered the U.S. Navy becoming a sonar technician. He was on active duty in Key West, Fla., during the Cuban Missile Crisis in 1962. After leaving the Navy he entered Southern Illinois University receiving his B.A. in 1968, and his M.S. in 1969. He then entered the University of Iowa where he received his Ph.D. in geography in 1973. Larry was hired as an instructor at the University of Wyoming in 1972, retiring at the rank of Professor in 2006. He served as departmental chair from 1981 to 1984. A large part of his focus was in computer cartography and GIS, but he taught a wide array of classes including cultural geography, urban geography, economic geography, transportation geography, population geography, urban land use and planning, and geographical analysis.

Larry developed a deep love of trains and railroads as a child, and pursued that interest later in his career and upon retirement. While still at the University of Wyoming he developed a course examining the impact of railroads on the development of Wyoming. In retirement he became President of the Laramie Historic Railroad Depot Board, and was instrumental in creating the Laramie Railroad Heritage Park.

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George Schnell

George A. Schnell (1931-2013), Founding Chair of the Department of Geography at the State University of New York at New Paltz, died on July 31, 2013.

A proud native of Philadelphia, George served in the Army from 1952-1954, and then attended West Chester University in PA. After graduating in 1958, he married Mary Lou Williams and had three sons, David, Douglas, and Thomas, who survive him with their spouses and children.

Hired by SUNY New Paltz in 1962 in the Division of Area Studies and Geography, he then earned his Ph.D. from Penn State University in 1965 with E. Willard Miller and George F. Deasy as advisors. The following year, he was invited to the University of Hawaii’s summer program as a visiting associate professor.

Schnell was tasked with developing with colleagues an undergraduate BA/BS curriculum at SUNY New Paltz. Once this degree was approved in 1968, he became the founding chairman of the Department of Geography Department at SUNY New Paltz and then served for more than 25 years as chair.

He was a formidable presence on campus, often serving as chair of important committees and was well-known as bridge-builder between and among departments and programs. He served as principal advisor for all Geography majors and minors for nearly thirty years.

The United University Professions presented a 1990 Excellence Award to him in 1990 for mastery of specialization and service to the community. West Chester University recognized him as a Distinguished Alumnus in 1994. In 2006, he was named Distinguished Teacher Emeritus by the SUNY New Paltz Alumni Association.

He was a co-founder and founding director of the Institute for Development and Land Use Planning (ID-plus) at SUNY New Paltz from 1986-1996 as well as a founding member of the Hudson Valley Study Center from 1995-1998. He served on numerous local boards and committees in the Town and Village of New Paltz and the Town of Gardiner.

Throughout his highly productive career, his research included wide-ranging studies of the characteristics of population in Pennsylvania as well as publications useful to educators at all levels. For many years, he was actively involved with the AAG’s High School Geography Project, and one of the authors/editors of The Local Community: A Handbook for Teachers (1968).

He was a regular contributor to the journals of the Pennsylvania Academy of Sciences, the Pennsylvania Geographic Society, and the Middle States Division of the Association of American Geographers. Between 1983 and 2002, he authored or coauthored chapters for numerous books on environmental and demographic issue published by the Pennsylvania Academy of Science.

He was the co-author with Mark Monmonier of Syracuse University of many publications, including The Study of Population: Elements, Patterns, Processes (1983) and Map Appreciation (1988). With George Demko, and Harold Rose, he was the editor and contributor to Population Geography: A Reader (1970).

— Ronald G. Knapp, SUNY Distinguished Professor Emeritus

Knapp, Ronald G. “George A. Schnell Was Founding Geography Department Chair of SUNY New Paltz.” AAG Newsletter: n. pag. Web. 12 August 2013.

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Kashi Singh

Professor Kashi Nath Singh, the luminous figure of Indian Geography, passed away on Thursday July 18, 2013. He was born in a village in Bhojpur district of Bihar on January 1, 1932. After high school he moved to Varanasi and joined Banaras Hindu University, from where earned his bachelor’s degree, M.A. (1956), and Ph.D. (1963).

In September 1957, Prof. Singh joined the Department of Geography, Banaras Hindu University as Lecturer, and was promoted to Reader in 1968. He was also professor and head, department of geography at Patna University (Bihar). In 1978 returned as Professor of Integrated Area Development in the department of geography at Banaras Hindu University, which he cherished till 1993. During 1991-93 (two terms), he had served as member of the Board of Directors, U.S. Educational Foundation in India (U.S.E.F.I.), New Delhi.

He published 6 textbooks, 11 co-edited volumes, and over 70 research articles. His visits abroad included East Africa, Anglo-America, Western Europe, Australia, New Zealand, Singapore, Thailand, Indonesia and Bali, U.K. and U.S.A. He was also an Executive Member of the Commonwealth Geographical Bureau, London (1968-1972 and 1976-80); Asst. Secretary, NGSI, and was Life Member of national bodies like NGSI, NAGI, NEGS, IIG, CIG, and UBBP. He was honoured to be the President, National Association of Geographers India (NAGI), 1985-86, and Institute of Indian Geographers (IIG), 1991-92. During November 1993 – June 2008, he was Professor of Geography in the College of Social Sciences, Addis Ababa University, Ethiopia. After returning from Ethiopia, he lived in Varanasi and sometimes passed his holidays with his doctor son and his family in the campus of Banaras Hindu University.

During 1964-66 he was a Fulbright Scholar at Rutgers University of New Jersey; and in 1965-66 he served as Associate Professor at East Stroudsburg State College/ University, East Stroudsburg PA. In this period he studied and collaborated with Prof. John E. Brush (1919-2007), who was already influenced by the researches of Prof. Singh as an external examiner of his PhD thesis on “Rural Market and Rurban Centres in Eastern Uttar Pradesh (India).”

Professor K.N. Singh specialised in the studies of rural settlements, historical geography and planning, economic geography, and social geography. He was one of the two India-based geographers to have published in the Annals, Association of American Geographers (vol. 58, no. 2, 1968: pp. 203-220), entitled “Territorial basis of Town and village settlement in Eastern U.P., India.” David E. Sopher in his essay, “Towards a Rediscovery of India: Thoughts on some neglected geography,” in, Marvin W. Mikesell, ed. Geographers Abroad (University of Chicago, Chicago, 1973: pp. 110-133) appraised Prof. Singh’s contribution (p. 123) as representative of the Varanasi school in rural settlement and urban morphology. Anthropologist Richard G. Fox, in his book, Urban India: Society, Space and Image (1970, Duke University) wrote about his classical paper (AAAG, 58, no. 2, 1968): “Our papers have different emphases and in several places in the text some criticism is made of K.N. Singh’s interpretation. However, these differing viewpoints and interpretations in no way remove my intellectual debt to Dr. Singh, right only for the paper cited above, but for his [other] original paper on the subject.” Fox in another of his book, Kin, Clan, Raja, and Rule (UCP, Berkeley, & OUP Delhi, 1971), writes: “Recent work by Bernard Cohn, K.N. Singh, M.C. Pradhan, etc. has indicated the important role played by unilineal kin groups of locally dominant Kshatriya ‘Castes’ in the lower level political organisation of traditional North India.” Some of his papers were prescribed in the graduate courses in Hiroshima University, and are highlighted by famous Japanese scholar Prof. Hiroshi Ishida in his book, A Cultural Geography of the Great Plains of India (Univ. of Hiroshima Press, 1972).

The absence of Prof. Singh will be always felt by Indian geography, and we will miss him for many years to come; however his message, insights and visions are always with us.

Rana P.B. Singh
Department of Geography
Faculty of Science
Banaras Hindu University

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Bertha Becker

Bertha Becker, a pioneering Brazilian geographer, died on July 13, 2013. She was 82.

The professor emeritus at Federal University of Rio de Janeiro specialized in Amazonian issues. Her lifelong research, which focused on the political geography of Brazil, took Becker throughout every region of her native country. Extensive fieldwork shaped her findings and unique view of environmental conditions caused by human occupation and devastation.

Becker was a graduate of the University of Brazil, receiving her degree in geography and history in 1952. She completed her doctorate in 1970 at the Federal University of Rio de Janeiro, where Becker became a long-time professor. She also conducted post-doctorial studies at Massachusetts Institute of Technology’s urban studies and planning department.

During her career, Becker received a number of honors. She was awarded an honorary doctorate from the University of Lyon in France. She was presented the Carlos Chagas Filho Scientific Merit award. The American Geographical Society granted her the David Livingstone Centenary Medal.

Becker had more than 180 published works, including books, articles, papers and chapters. She was a member of the editorial boards of national and international publishers. She consulted for scientific institutions, including the National Research Council, and helped develop public policies for the Ministries of Science and Technology in Brazil.

She served as vice president for both the International Geographical Union (1996-2000) and the International Advisory Group of the Pilot for the Protection of Tropical Forests (1995-2005). She was also a panelist at the United Nations’ Rio + 20 conference.

“Bertha was one of a small cadre of social scientists who brought geography to prominence in Brazil in the late 1950s and ’60s. Her wise opinions will be missed,” noted David J. Robinson, professor of Latin American geography at Syracuse University.

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David J. Campbell

David J. Campbell, professor of geography at Michigan State University, died on May 16, 2013, at the age of 65. After growing up in Wales, he received his B.A. in geography from the University of Bristol U.K. and his M.A. and Ph.D. from Clark University. A faculty member at MSU since 1979, he served as associate dean for research in the College of Social Science. From 1976-1979, he held a post-doctoral position funded by the Rockefeller Foundation at the Institute for Development Studies, University of Nairobi, Kenya. He also conducted research and lived in many African countries including Kenya, Cameroon, Zimbabwe and Rwanda.

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Donald Johnson

Donald Lee Johnson, Professor of Geography at the University of Illinois from 1970-2003 and Emeritus Professor from 2003, passed on May 10, 2013. He was born March 8, 1934, in Long Beach, CA. Don received his Ph.D. in geography in 1972 from the University of Kansas. Diana Johnson was his life partner for 53 years, and wife for 49 of them.

Don’s life and career were an inspiration to many. Though retired, he never stopped his research and writing. He was one of those blessed individuals whose career was his hobby, and he never tired of his work.

Over the course of his career, Don taught 10 different courses in physical geography, soil-geomorphology and zoogeography at University of Illinois. He loved what he taught and his enthusiasm was infectious. Don was always entertaining and positive in the classroom, and his students truly loved him. Don took his enthusiasm for research into the classroom, taking his students on field trips every semester. He led 28 different undergraduates on independent study projects. His list of advisees and graduate committees includes 10 with senior theses, 23 with master’s theses, and 26 with doctoral dissertations. Many of his students have gone on to highly visible careers, but most importantly, they all continued to stay in touch with him. Don truly loved the relationships that he developed with students.

Perhaps the best testaments to Don’s teachings are reports given by his former students. His students left his classroom believing that soils–of all things–could truly be interesting, exciting and important, and that there is still much to learn about them. Never one to simply cite the party line, Don continually challenged the status quo and asked his students to do the same. Most importantly, he taught his students to question what they saw, and to always think outside of the box. He simply asked them to learn by looking. He was a keen observer of natural systems, often seeing things that others ignored. He called it his intellectual filter. There’s no doubt he viewed the world through different intellectual filters than most, and in so doing he saw things that other people looked at but didn’t quite see. Anyone who’s received an email from Don likely noticed a quote in his signature: “We don’t see things as they are, but as we are.”

Don’s list of published papers in refereed journals and books numbers over 80. And yet the numbers don’t do justice to his contribution to these disciplines, nor of the long-lasting impact that his work will have on future generations. Not once but twice, Don won the GK Gilbert Award for Excellence in Geomorphic Research from the AAG Geomorphology Specialty Group (GSG).  His second Gilbert Award – won just this year with colleague and former student Jennifer Burnham for their GSA Special Paper on Mima Mounds – illustrates that Don never stopped doing what he loved: research and fieldwork. In 2005, he received the Distinguished Career Award from the GSG of the AAG. Don was a truly interdisciplinary scholar, as evidenced by the Rip Rapp Archaeological Geology Award that he had also received from the Geological Society of America. Don was equally at home with geographers, geologists, soil scientists, archaeologists, and biologists and published in journals of all these disciplines.

Almost single-handedly, Don published paper after paper, gave talk after talk, and had one-on-one conversations with people from all walks of life, all designed to highlight the importance of bioturbation and biomechanical processes on soil formation. His theoretical papers on soil genesis and evolution dramatically changed the way that the academic community views soil formation. This work has particularly assisted archeologists and tropical soil scientists by helping to explain the formation of stone lines, enigmatic features whose origins had been debated for decades.  His work on mima mounds helped settle a centuries-long debate on the origins of these features. Don’s theoretical contributions continue to be truly revolutionary and of lasting import. His body of work will enjoy a position among the very best soil theoreticians in recent history. And of course, much of this work was done in full collaboration with his career-long field partner, Diana.

Don was an explorer, a field person, and an adventurer. Ever curious, Don and Diana traveled the world seek­ing answers to the question: How do Earth systems really work? Don was a thoughtful and generous man, always taking the time to be kind and gracious to everyone he met, forging many strong friendships. He was a true inspiration to everyone he met. He also loved working in the garden, playing racquetball and writing poems. Don’s family, friends, and colleagues will miss him dearly, but he lives on in our hearts and minds, and his passion for the soil lives on in what he has written.

Jennifer Burnham
Augustana College

Randy Schaetzl
Michigan State University

Selected Bibliography

Horwath Burnham, J.L., and D.L. Johnson, eds., 2012, Mima mounds: the case for polygenesis and bioturbation: Geological Society of America Special Paper 490: Boulder, Colorado, 211 p.

Johnson, D.L., Domier, J.E.J., and D.N. Johnson. 2005. Reflections on the nature of soil and its biomantle. Annals Assoc. Am. Geog. 95:11-31.

Johnson, D.L., J.E.J. Domier, and D.N. Johnson, 2005, Animating the biodynamics of soil thickness using process vector analysis — a dynamic denudation approach to soil formation:         Geomorphology, v. 67, nos. 1-4, p. 23-46.

Johnson, D.L. 2002. Darwin would be proud: Bioturbation, dynamic denudation, and the power of theory in science. Geoarchaeology Special Issue: Formation Processes in Regional Perspective 17:7-40.

Johnson, D.L. 1994. Reassessment of early and modern soil horizon designation frameworks and associated pedogenetic processes: Are midlatitude A E B-C horizons equivalent to tropical M S W horizons? Soil Science (Trends in Agric. Sci.) 2:77-91.

Johnson, D.L. 1993. Dynamic denudation evolution of tropical, subtropical and temperate landscapes with three tiered soils; toward a general theory of landscape evolution. Quaternary International 17:67-78.

Johnson, D.L. and Balek, C.L. 1991. The genesis of Quaternary landscapes with stone-lines.  Physical Geography 12:385-395.

Johnson, D.L. Keller, E.A. and Rockwell, T.K. 1990. Dynamic pedogenesis; new views on some key soil concepts, and a model for interpreting Quaternary soils. Quaternary Research 33:306-319.

Johnson, D.L. 1990.Biomantle evolution and the redistribution of earth materials and artifacts. Soil Science 149:84-102.

Johnson D.L. 1989. Subsurface stone lines, stone zones, artifact-manuport layers, and biomantles produced by bioturbation via pocket gophers (Thomomys bottae). American Antiquity 54:292-326.

Johnson, D.L., Watson-Stegner, D., Johnson, D.N. and Schaetzl, R.J. 1987. Proisotropic and proanisotropic processes of pedoturbation. Soil Science 143:278-292.

Johnson, D.L. and Watson-Stegner, D. 1987. Evolution model of pedogenesis. Soil Science 143:349-366.

Johnson, D.L., 1978.  The origin of island mammoths and the Quaternary land bridge history of the northern Channel Islands, California.  Quaternary Research 10: 204-225.

Johnson, D.L., 1977.  The late Quaternary climate of coastal California: Evidence for an Ice Age refugium.  Quaternary Research 8: 154-179.

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Lewis M. Alexander

“Lew” Alexander, an Emeritus Professor of Geography and Marine Affairs at the University of Rhode Island, died at the age of 91.

Alexander created a national and international following for the Department of Marine Affairs at the University of Rhode Island, according to the university’s website, in large part due to his “focus on the global ocean and its management through his contributions to the United Nations Law of the Sea Conference, and, later, through his work at the Department of State, where he served as geographer.”

Prior to joining URI, Alexander taught at the State University of New York, Binghamton. During the Reagan Administration, Alexander also served as the geographer for the US State Department, which overlapped with his tenure at URI. Alexander earned a BA from Middlebury College and a doctorate from Clark University. Following his academic career, Alexander joined the army during World War II. Later, he served with the Air Force for four years, achieving the rank of Master Sergeant.

In 1981, Alexander received AAG Honors from the Association of American Geographers for his accomplishments in scholarship, teaching, education, and service.

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