Larry Alan Brown

Larry was born in 1935 and raised in Erie, Pennsylvania to immigrant parents. His life and work reflects in many ways the classic American immigrant story of success. His father and other relatives fled the pogroms in Ukraine; and the family name was changed from Browarnik to Brown when they immigrated to the U.S. via Ellis Island. His parents instilled in him deep values about the importance of education and achievement.

A self-described “dead-end kid,” Larry initially aspired to be an auto mechanic which may explain his affinity for late-model BMWs. Instead of technical school, Larry went to college after high school because it meant something to his immigrant parents. He received his undergraduate degree in 1958 from the University of Pennsylvania’s Wharton School of Business, with a B.S. degree in Economics/Business . He first worked as an accountant in Philadelphia and then tried law school before discovering his true passion for geography, enrolling in the graduate program at Northwestern University in Chicago in the early 1960s.

The roots of Larry’s interest in geography were set much earlier, however, when he and his brother Ed travelled through Latin America, driving down the Pan American Highway in the late-1950s. There he encountered an international development worker who shared Preston James’ book – Latin America (1950) with him—an event that Larry often recounted in stories of his early discovery of geography. His formal training began at Northwestern where he earned an MA in geography in 1963 and PhD in 1966. The renowned Swedish geographer, Torsten Hägerstrand, supervised his dissertation fieldwork on innovation and diffusion processes.

Larry’s seminal book, Innovation Diffusion: A New Perspective (1981, Methuen), provided the definitive account of the ongoing adoption and spread of new products and techniques. Earlier research had emphasized the adopters themselves, but Larry refocused attention to the social and geographic processes that supported transformative technologies, products, and behaviors. Later, his research on mobility and migration offered new insights into why and where people move. His pioneering theory of intra-urban migration (with Eric Moore) in 1970 separated residential mobility process into two stages: dissatisfaction with the current home and the search for a new one. This influential work inspired several generations of demographers and urban geographers who went on to clarify the mobility behavior of young adults just leaving the family home, the role of residential change in the upward mobility of new immigrants, and the way local housing markets affect homeownership—all compelling and socially significant issues today. More recently, up to and following the publication of another important book, Place, Migration and Development in the Third World (1990, Routledge), Larry’s research sought to show how context shapes the relations among urbanization, economic growth, and population change in Latin America, Third World development, and in US metropolitan areas.

In addition to these groundbreaking intellectual achievements, Larry’s legacy to OSU and the field of geography lies in his generous, strategic, and unstinting mentorship of graduate students. As a faculty member at OSU, he advised thirty PhD students in all, many of whom are intellectual leaders themselves today. He made a lifetime commitment to those who chose to work with him: following their careers, offering advice when asked, writing hundreds of timely, and pointed letters of recommendation; taking an interest in their personal lives, and being the go-to person in times of need. He had a special relationship with a large cluster of doctoral graduates from Korea, and the story goes that his sociable participation in karaoke sessions won him lasting admiration and gratitude. His hallmark departmental “pointer” was a very simple yet effective item to have people remember their visits, and of course, also came in handy in the classroom.

In a lifetime of professional effort he deservedly earned high honors himself. He was President of the Association of American Geographers, Department Chair (at the same time!), a Guggenheim Fellow, President of the North America Regional Science Council (NARSC) , and a Distinguished University Professor at Ohio State. In recognition of his extraordinary vision and leadership in the field of geography, the AAG presented its Lifetime Achievement Honors Award to Larry in 2008. Larry also worked assiduously to advance the many causes he championed. As department chair, he nominated countless colleagues for teaching, service, and research honors, as well as honorary doctorates. He nominated former students for similar positions at their home universities.

There were also sides to him of which few were aware. Larry had been a consummate golfer in earlier years. He was a very good tennis player and an excellent swimmer. He had an extensive collection of blues and American roots music. He was widely read outside the social sciences.. He felt things deeply and cared for people. And yet, those of you who know Larry will not be surprised that he spent the final days at his place of work: a corner office in Derby Hall with a window facing Bricker Hall where his light often burned late into the night. The hallways and hearts of OSU geography faculty, staff, and students are filled with reminders of Larry’s devotion to the discipline, to his friends, colleagues, and students. His style and dedication to service has shaped the way we are today, and this lives on in the Lawrence A. Brown Faculty Fellowship.

“Death leaves a heartache no one can heal, love leaves a memory no one can steal.” The first floor of Derby Hall and the discipline of geography will be different without Larry. He will be forever missed.

–OSU Geography Dept.

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Harm Jan de Blij

Harm de Blij of Sarasota, Florida and Chatham, Massachusetts died on March 25, 2014, at The Moffitt Cancer Center in Tampa, Florida.

Born in the Netherlands, de Blij received his early schooling in Europe, his undergraduate education in Africa from the University of the Witwatersrand and his graduate degrees in the United States from Northwestern University. Dr. de Blij taught at Michigan State University as a Professor from 1960 to 1969 and then moved to the University of Miami where he served as Chairperson of the Department of Geography. He served on the National Geographic Society’s Committee for Research and Exploration for more than 20 years, was founding editor of its journal National Geographic Research and was awarded National Geographic’s Distinguished Geography Educator Award and lifetime membership for his advocacy of geography. He received the highest recognitions from the Association of American Geographers, the American Geographical Society and the National Council for Geographic Education. Dr. de Blij has also held the George Landegger Chair in Georgetown University’s School of Foreign Service and the John Deaver Drinko Chair of Geography at Marshall University and was Presidential Scholar at the Colorado School of Mines. Dr. de Blij returned to MSU in 2000 as a Distinguished Professor and was subsequently named the John A. Hannah Professor of Geography. His scholarly work has been recognized through honorary degrees awarded by Marshall University, Rhode Island College, Grand Valley State University, North Carolina State University and Michigan State University.

Dr. de Blij specialized in geopolitical and environmental issues and has published more than 30 books including scientific, educational, and trade titles, and over 100 articles. His textbook Geography: Realms, Regions and Concepts (Wiley) has exceeded 1.3 million copies in 15 editions since 1970. Another book, Wine: a Geographic Appreciation (Rowman & Allanheld) was awarded a medal by the French wine organization, OIV, in Paris. His books have been translated into several foreign languages. Over the past 40 years, de Blij was also one of the few academic geographers of his generation to make a major and lasting impact in the public arena. He was the popular Geography Editor on ABC’s “Good Morning America” from 1989 to 1996. In 1996, he joined NBC News as Geography Analyst, appearing mostly on MSNBC. He was writer of and commentator for the original PBS Series “The Power of Place”. Dr. de Blij was much in demand on the lecture circuit and his extraordinary communication skills were widely recognized. He gave over 400 presentations since 2001 with lecture titles such as; Confronting Militant Islam: the changing Geography of Terrorism, Why Geography Matters: the Cost of Geographic Illiteracy, and Climate Change Forever: Truth and Consequences.

Harm de Blij ‘s parents were both distinguished musicians and he remained a violinist and chamber-music participant through the end of his life. He was an avid wine collector, lifelong soccer (Holland) and baseball (Cubs) fan. His second love after geography was animals, all animals but a special place in his heart was always kept for his own.

Harm is survived by his wife of 37 years, Bonnie of Chatham and his only son Hugh James of Maryland and beloved sister in law Patti Mc Culley of North Chatham. He was predeceased by his Mother Nelly and Father Hendrik and his daughter Tanya Powers de Blij.

Memorial contributions may be made to The de Blij Geography Scholars, Department of Geography, Michigan State University, 673 Auditorium Road, Room 116, East Lansing, MI 48824 or to The Wildlife Center of Venice, Inc. 3252 Border Road, Venice, FL 34292

—Bonnie de Blij

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Philip Wagner

Phil Wagner, pre-eminent cultural geographer and professor emeritus at Simon Frazer University passed away on March 5, 2014, aged 92, after a period of illness.

Philip Laurence Wagner was born on October 7, 1921, in California and raised in Los Gatos near San Francisco. He was educated at the University of California, Berkeley, where he took all three degrees.

His bachelor’s degree was a double major in Russian language and Russian and Eastern European history (1947), an interest he continued in his master’s in geography with a thesis on “Russian Exploration in North America” (1950).

He then changed geographical area for his doctorate. He was one of the first generation of graduate students in the Berkeley School of Latin Americanist Geography under the supervision of Carl Sauer. His fieldwork in Costa Rica resulted in a thesis on “Nicoya: Historical Geography of a Central American Lowland Community” (1953).

Between 1953 and 1954, while serving as 1^st Lieutenant in the U.S. Army, he taught courses to military personnel in the Far Eastern Program of the University of California Extension. It was here that he met Robert K. Hall, a famous linguist, who taught him Japanese and how to write Kanji characters.

After discharge from the military, Wagner gained an appointment as a research associate in the Slavic Languages and Literatures Program at the University of Chicago. In 1955, when Chauncy Harris became the Dean of Social Sciences, he elevated Wagner to a regular appointment as Assistant Professor in the Department of Geography.

Based on a course he taught on economic geography, he wrote The Human Use of the Earth (1960) in which he broke with convention and emphasized ecological, technological and even sociological factors rather than the economic order as such.

Working with Marvin Mikesell, they jointly introduced cultural geography as a new course in the Department of Geography. The shared venture led to the publication of Readings in Cultural Geography (1962), which became a staple textbook for the next four decades.

While a faculty member in the Department of Geography, he was also involved with the Anthropology Department’s Chiapas Project in Mexico. It was in connection with the Chiapas Project that he got the late David Hill interested in doing his doctoral dissertation on the changing landscape of Villa Las Rosas, a Mexican municipality in the Chiapas.

In 1961, Wagner moved to the University of California, Davis, where he was Associate Professor in both the Departments of Anthropology and Geography. He also spent some of his time teaching cultural geography at University of California, Berkeley.

The next move was in the fall of 1967 when he was appointed Professor of Geography in the new fledgling Simon Fraser University in Canada. His arrival immediately raised the visibility of the university and added stature to the geography department. Given his Berkeley, Chicago and Davis experiences, Wagner was asked to set up the Geography Graduate Studies program. He was also instrumental in helping the university to establish the Latin American Studies (LAS) program and participated actively in the LAS Field School including teaching on fieldtrips to Guatemala and Cuba.

In addition to these new programs, Wagner found time to promote interdisciplinary dialogue among faculty members and graduate students. Together with Dr Wyn Roberts, a professor of linguistics, they formed a weekly study group called the Pi-Digamma Seminar. It was a forum where interested colleagues, grad students and friends would meet to discuss any topic of interdisciplinary interest to the university community. Many who participated remember these exchanges as being some of the best dialogues they ever had during the early years at Simon Fraser University.

During this period, Wagner was also Editor of the Prentice-Hall Foundations of Cultural Geography Series. Under his editorship, six volumes were published including his own Environments and Peoples (1972), as well as Sopher’s Geography of Religion (1967), Rapoport’s House Form and Culture (1969), Isaac’s Geography of Domestication (1970), Zelinsky’s Cultural Geography of the United States (1973) and Hart’s Rural Landscapes of the Western World (1975).

Wagner became a member of the Association of American Geographers in 1953. As an active cultural geographer, he was much sought after by AAG Committees, serving as a Councilor of the Steering Committee of the High School Project, as well as a member of the College Commission of Geography. He was also a member of the Association of Pacific Coast Geographers and served as their Vice President and President (1972-4).

In 1987, Wagner was presented with the AAG’s highest honors award for distinguished contributions to the geographic profession. The citation recognized “his unwavering dedication to scholarship, his distinguished career in cultural geography, and his numerous contributions to knowledge and to the geographic profession.”

Retirement as professor emeritus in 1987 did not bring an end to Wagner’s scholarly activities. His lifetime travels and observations in human communication motivated him to write his seminal work Showing Off: the Geltung Hypothesis which was published in 1996. The book is an exploration into human communities, and the desire for recognition and status in human behaviour. It is such behavioral expressions and feedback that affect the spatial organization of human performance and provide the artificial environment for geltung, i.e., the feeling of importance and worth in being recognized. It was his hope that geltung would attract cultural geographers and social scientists to seek and to explore their understanding of communicative behaviour in the human-environment interaction continuum.

Wagner should not only be remembered as an innovative and creative scholar but also a competent linguist. He could speak, read and write half a dozen languages (English, German, French, Spanish, Polish and Russian) and could read at least another half a dozen languages (Italian, Portuguese, Dutch, Swedish, Japanese and Farsi).

He was also a talented artist. He drew and sketched on fieldtrips around the world which included all the pilgrim tombs, temples and stone mosques that he visited when he wrote his article on “Pilgrimage: Culture and Geography” in Sacred Places, Sacred Spaces (1997). Some of his sketches can be seen on his website.

The death of Phil is a great loss to geography. He will be dearly missed by all those who knew him as well as those who were influenced by his writings. He leaves behind his beloved wife, Margaret, son, Tomas, and granddaughter, Bianca.

For a more detailed treatment of Philip Wagner’s career, personality and academic contributions, see Wong, S. T. (1992) “Philip L. Wagner: An Appreciation” in Shue Tuck Wong (ed.) Person, Place and Thing: Interpretative and Empirical Essays in Cultural Geography Baton Rouge, LA: Department of Geography and Anthropology, Louisiana State University, pp15-30.

With thanks to Shue Tuck Wong, Professor Emeritus, Department of Geography, Simon Fraser University for preparing this obituary.

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Maynard Malcolm Miller

Maynard Malcolm Miller, explorer, committed educator and noted scientist whose glaciological research was among the first to identify hard evidence of global climate change as a result of human industrial activity, died on January 26 at his home in Moscow, Idaho. He was 93.

Dr. Miller was Emeritus Professor at the University of Idaho where he previously served as Dean of the College of Mines and Earth Resources, and Director of the Glaciological and Arctic Sciences Institute. The Institute, along with the Juneau Icefield Research Program, founded in 1946 and developed in partnership with his late wife Joan Walsh Miller, inspired more than 4,000 students through hands on involvement in scientific research in remote mountain environments in Alaska and around the world (www.juneauicefield.com). In recognition of this sustained impact in mountain science education, Maynard and Joan Miller were presented 1996 AAG Distinguished Teaching Honors.

As a scientist and climber on America’s first Mt. Everest Expedition in 1963, Miller conducted research on atmospheric pollution and other contributors to climate change. On that historic expedition, as the West Ridge climbers returned from the summit, Miller sacrificed his precious scientific water samples, laboriously collected from the Khumbu Icefall, in order to rehydrate the exhausted climbers.

Although a deeply spiritual person, Maynard Miller did not believe in any God of organized religion; instead, he found inspiration in the magnificence and wonder of nature. He also believed that through the challenge of rugged mountain expeditions, where teamwork is essential to achieve a common goal, the best in each individual may be revealed. His great joy was to share and provide these experiences for others.

A native of the Northwest, Miller graduated from Stadium High School in Tacoma, Washington. He studied geology and glaciology, receiving degrees from Harvard University and Columbia University, and his Ph.D. in Geography from Cambridge University.

During WWII Miller served on a Navy destroyer, seeing active duty in 11 major Pacific campaigns and sustaining injuries during an aircraft attack at sea. Late in life, Miller served three terms in the Idaho State House of Representatives where he advocated for expanding educational opportunities.

He will be remembered for his enthusiasm, unrelenting optimism and phrases such as, “stress helps you grow” and his closing on mountain radio transmissions, “mighty fine, mighty fine.”

Miller is survived by his sons and their spouses, Ross Miller (Denise), and Lance Miller (Jana). Miller also leaves behind his beloved grandchildren, Logan, Anna, Zachary and Eva, extended family in the Puget Sound area as well as scores of grateful students, scientific collaborators and co-adventurers.Celebrations of the life of Maynard Malcolm Miller will be announced at a future date. See more at: https://www.legacy.com/obituaries/juneauempire/obituary.aspx?n=maynard-malcolm-miller&pid=169627246#sthash.8dkvaCTJ.dpuf

Obituary originally published in the Juneau Empire, Feb. 11, 2014, with additional contributions by Richard A. Marston

Correction: We incorrectly reported that Maynard Miller worked towards his Ph.D. under the supervision of Richard Chorley.

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Dave Hill

Dave Hill, longtime member of the geography faculty at the University of Colorado at Boulder, passed away in Louisville, Colorado on Sunday, January 19, 2014.

They say at 50 you end up with the face you deserve. From the moment I first saw Dave Hill’s sparkling eyes and Cheshire Cat smile, I knew that I made the right decision to study with him in the PhD program at CU Boulder.

The venue was a session on geography education at the 1996 AAG Annual Meeting in Charlotte. Dave and a few of his students were on hand to discuss a new project, Geographic Inquiry into Global Issues. GIGI, as it was known, was a collection of modules for secondary schools that supported the recently published national geography standards. To my young eyes GIGI captured everything I thought geography education should be: fresh, exciting, relevant, and unafraid of controversial issues.

Dave was a giant and always encouraging, even when being critical of my work. He was the most generous, kind, and compassionate advisor and mentor one could ever hope for.

On occasion Dave would make a star turn at playing the role of absent-minded professor. Once we spent an entire hot Saturday walking the Boulder Creek trail to take photos and gather data for making a virtual field study of flood hazards. At the conclusion of our journey Dave opened his camera and realized he had forgot to load it with film. No big deal. We just went back the next day and I got to hear more stories about Dave playing football during the “leather-helmet” era at CU.

Dave was close to retirement when I started my PhD. I promised him that I would study hard and finish on schedule. At least once a week I would provide him with progress reports over lunch at some restaurant on “The Hill” in Boulder. Those lunches usually ended with Dave footing the bill and me meekly offering him a stick of Juicy Fruit as a token of gratitude. The last time Dave took me to lunch – I think about a week or so before my graduation – he presented me with a gift-wrapped box of Juicy Fruit. I smiled and told him I wish I could’ve afforded to buy him a gold watch. He got a big chuckle out of that.

I’ll never forget that frigid graduation day at CU Boulder in December 1999. A few minutes before the start of the ceremony, an usher instructed me and my fellow graduates to line up by the entrance to the auditorium. Dave stood by my side and never budged. When the usher asked him to join the faculty assembled in a different seating area, Dave put his hand on my shoulder, shook his head, and with a big grin said, “I’m sitting with him.”

(Incidentally, if I look alarmed in that photo, it’s because I had to receive emergency root canal treatment on my front tooth a few hours after the ceremony. I guess dentist appointments were one of the sacrifices I made to graduate on time).

It’s no exaggeration to say that I owe everything I have professionally to Dave. He introduced me to a world of thought that affirmed the power of geography in education. One of my most cherished experiences as a CU graduate student was being introduced to Gilbert White in one of Dave’s seminars. Dave recalled being in a similar setting back when he was attending CU. Professor White engaged Dave and his fellow graduate students in a discussion of the role of geography in liberal education and what they thought it should be. Dave remarked, “Gilbert White was not only interested in our views. He also wanted to convey the idea that, as future stewards of our discipline, we should be fully vested in these fundamental questions.” The torch is passed.

Sometimes I open my old CU files and pull out a reading list that Dave prepared for my doctoral orals. At the top is a hand-scribbled note from Dave that says, “Of enduring interest to geography education.” The list is replete with entries by John Dewey, Francis Slater, Jerome Bruner and so many other wonderful educational philosophers inside and outside of geography. I’d like to think that something I’ve written someday could make the cut.

Ask any of the hundreds of geography teachers who benefited from Dave’s professional development institutes through the Colorado Geographic Alliance, and to a person they will remark on the qualities that endeared him to so many: his loyalty to students, friends and family, his refusal to compromise quality, and his indefatigable devotion to geography education. The man could also make one hell of a martini.

The last time I saw Dave Hill was in June of 2009. He invited me to his condo in Boulder for a lamb chop dinner with Myhra, his wife of 50+ years. Afterwards he walked me down to the Pearl Street mall and we found a bench to sit on and enjoy the buskers.

At this point in his life Dave’s once sturdy voice was beginning to sound a bit frail and frayed. “Michael,” he said, “I’ll always appreciate the fact that you kept in touch.” And with that he hugged me goodbye and wandered back up the hill, a golden sun setting over the Flatirons.

Rest in Peace, Dave, and thanks for everything.

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Nancy Tian

In November 2011, Dr. Nancy Tian was commissioned to active duty as a Public Health Service (PHS) officer in the Scientist category. She was transferred to the ASPR as a public health analyst from the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) in March 2012. One thing is certain: her colorful career path began in geography.

Tian’s interest in geography was first ignited by her brother’s Global Positioning System (GPS) related career in China. Shaped by her early exposure to and belief in visualization of geography and public health, Tian’s dissertation research was squarely focused on using Geographic Information Systems (GIS) and spatial statistics to understand health disparities in female breast cancer including stage of diagnosis and mortality. Over the last decade, she has observed the rapid evolution of geospatial technologies and how they have become powerful tools in analyzing the relationship between humans and their environment.

Nancy’s career trajectory has closely followed her strong technical skills in GIS and statistics which stemmed from her dissertation research. When she began looking for employment, Nancy knew that a doctoral degree in geography can lead to a range of careers outside of academia, and decided to extend her application to positions in the government sector. After completing her doctoral degree in geography, she landed a postdoctoral position at the EPA, followed by her current work at ASPR which builds on her research on the influence of place and space on public health. As a Public Health Analyst, she is integrally engaged in developing and analyzing the performance measures in the Healthcare Preparedness Program.

Reflecting on geographic skills used in the workplace, Tian recognizes the importance of the applications of GIS and spatial statistics in public health, especially in Emergency Management. Equally important, she observes, are project management skills that include the ability to think independently and “break down a project into smaller pieces to sequentially complete each part and then to bring the individual parts together”. Since higher education tends to encourage specialization, Nancy continually upgrades her knowledge by reading current literature on disasters to complement her technical strengths. She stresses three major, high value skills needed in the workplace that are usually not part of graduate school curricula: communication with colleagues, teamwork, and the ability to adjust to the professional environment.

Nancy enjoys the dynamism of her role as a PHS officer and finds inspiration in her work through its application of theory, where one “can see the direct impact of our work”.

Her geography background is unique in her unit, standing out from such degrees as a master’s in Public Health or a MD. Nevertheless, geography is critical to her work; she stresses the value of GIS and mapping skills in providing visualization to the management team, which can be as simple as information about where healthcare facilities are located. Tian’s advice for current students is to broaden their technical skills by taking GIS related courses, as well as those in statistics and programming. To strengthen her knowledge as a public health analyst, she is working towards sharpening her SAS programming skills through training and reading related technical articles. Her continuing education goal is to purse a master degree in public health to enhance her comprehensive understanding of public health issues. As a final word of advice, Nancy suggests that current students be flexible and active in learning new skills and related knowledge required in whichever career path they choose.

This profile was published in 2013 by Niem Tu Huynh and Mark Revell

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Melinda Sue Meade

Melinda Meade was born in 1945 in New York City and grew up and went to school and college on Long Island. She was valedictorian of her Hicksville High School (1963) and Hofstra University (1966) classes. Melinda planned to teach history, but then changed her life by volunteering for the Peace Corps instead of going to graduate school in history. She taught English for two years in a small town in northeastern Thailand, six hours by elephant from the railhead in the provincial capital. As Melinda put it, the village did not want a male volunteer, and there was concern about sending a young woman into the jungle of Thailand in the 1960s, but the Peace Corps knew Melinda could do the job. In Thailand she discovered the complexities of development and learned to view the world through the lived experiences of another culture. She also made lifelong friends, one of her dearest friends, Phoungphet Meesawat, was her assistant in the village. Melinda and Phoungphet visited one another several times in Thailand and the States, remaining in close contact over the decades first via letters and then via email.

Following the Peace Corps, Melinda went to graduate school, first at Michigan State University (MA 1970) and then at the East-West Center at the University of Hawaii (PhD 1974). She chose geography, a field to which she would dedicate her life; geography allowed her to combine her interests in Asia, population change, and health promotion and disease ecology. Her dissertation research involved two years of fieldwork on land development/population resettlement schemes in Malaysia, which explored the dimensions of population movement and how such movement affected disease ecologies. This was Dr. Meade’s constant interest, how people move through environments and thus move through disease ecologies. Returning from field work in Malaysia, she took a tramp steamer up through Japan. Her academic career spanned departments of geography at the University of California at Los Angeles, the University of Georgia, and finally the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill (UNC) from 1976 until her retirement in 2010. She studied topics as diverse as the eradication of malaria in the United States, the enigma of cardiovascular disease and stroke in the coastal plain of the southeast as expressed in the city of Savannah, Georgia, and the implications of the growth of megacities and the globalization of population movement for the diffusion of diseases and the emergence of a different state of disease and health ecology in the urban population of the future. Melinda was a trailblazer for women academics. She traveled widely and conducted international research in a time when most young women simply didn’t. Melinda was an active member of the generation that shattered ill-conceived beliefs and expectations about a woman’s place in academia. Her hard work and sacrifice made it possible for generations of young women to have fulfilling and successful academic careers.

Professor Meade taught courses from first year undergraduate to doctoral levels on issues of changing population dynamics and structure, agricultural modernization, urbanization, and globalization in the developing world; on population geography, medical geography, disease ecology, the world’s food supply; and on Tropical Asia. She excited students with discussions of mobility and exposure and why both people and places are important for human health. She spoke of the day in 1974 when the world’s population reached 4 billion, and how there was fear about rampant famine due to overpopulation, but how Esther Boserup’s predictions of necessity producing innovation and Norman Borlaug’s Green Revolution averted those dire forecasts. Dr. Meade won the Spencer and Tanner Award for excellence in inspirational undergraduate teaching from UNC, and was inducted into the UNC Academy of Distinguished Teaching Scholars in 2000. Melinda is best known, particularly to undergraduates, as the author of the definitive textbook in the field of medical geography. Working with a succession of co-authors, she has opened the world of population and health to students far beyond the walls of UNC.

Over her many years as the departmental population and medical geographer, Melinda oversaw the training of 4 MA and 7 PhD students. She also informally mentored many other students, particularly women scholars. Melinda was a well-respected and well-loved mentor. Her intellect and compassion were always on hand when working through research or contemplating life as a graduate student. She gave unselfishly of her time to her graduate students and approached student research with an enthusiasm and excitement that was contagious. She encouraged people to think deeply and to strive not just to “do research” on a population, but to truly understand and appreciate the different ways in which diverse populations live their lives. Melinda engaged her students in scholarly dialogue which demanded a maturity of thinking which naturally led to intellectual development. She read voraciously and widely. She was also stubborn and brutally honest. Her academic legacy is a far reaching network of scholars who focus on people and places and health outcomes.

She loved gardening, growing fabulously beautiful roses, and her dogs, including Jenny, who misses Melinda very much. A beautiful video tribute to Melinda’s life entitled “ATLAS HANDS” can be watched at swraex.wistia.com/medias/plaluvak07.

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Steven Kale

Steven R. Kale, 65, died November 7, 2013, in his hometown of Salem, Oregon, following a brief illness. Kale achieved much in his life in academics, his profession, and in relationships with others in his life.

Kale, the middle of three children, was born in Manhattan, Kansas, in 1948 to Alton and Ruby Kale. His early years were spent in central Kansas where he and his older brother James became Eagle Scouts. After graduating from Mankato High School in 1966, Kale matriculated at Kansas State University. He earned degrees in Geography and Business Administration. Later, he obtained a master’s degree and doctorate from the University of Nebraska in Lincoln.

In 1975, Steve started his career as an economist at the Nebraska Department of Economic Development. From 1982 to 1989, Kale taught courses and conducted research in economic development, area and community development, renewable energy, and other topics at Oregon State University in Corvallis.

Kale left the University in 1989 to take on transportation work at the Oregon Department of Transportation. He remained at ODOT for 16 years and retired as the agency’s primary freight planning person. However, Steve continued to work, setting up his own consulting firm and taking on jobs for several Oregon ports and intermodal freight businesses to help them plan seed funding for projects. He also subcontracted with other consulting firms on a variety of transportation related projects.

Steve was an active member of many professional organization and national bodies, including the American Institute of Certified Planners and the Intermodal Freight Transport Committee of the Transportation Research Board where he served as the chair. Kale was also active in the Association of American Geographers and the International Geographic Union. His enthusiasm for geography and interest in his alma mater kept him involved on the KSU Geography Alumni Board.

Kale’s lifelong interest in far-away places took him to Oulu, Finland; Mendoza, Argentina; Sidney, Australia; Dubrovnik, Croatia; and much of Europe. He also managed to visit all 50 U.S. states. Steve’s travels also took him to the Arctic Circle twice: once in Alaska and another time in Finland.

A lover of the outdoors, Kale was also interested in hiking, camping, skiing, canoeing, whitewater rafting, and bird watching. He was an ardent supporter of environmental protection and cultivated lifelong friendships with many people. Steve’s personal and professional qualities were very much respected. He will be dearly missed.

Steve was preceded in death by his mother Ruby (Streit), father Alton Dale Kale, his sister Elaine and brother James. He is survived by three nephews: Jonathan Cote, David Kale, and Dan Kale.

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William J. Black

The faculty, staff, students and alumni of the Department of Geography mourn the loss of Professor Emeritus William R. Black on October 15th, 2013 at his home in Bloomington, Indiana. Though Bill had fought cancer for a number of years prior, his death was unexpected. A native of Brownsville, Pennsylvania, Bill graduated from California State College of Pennsylvania in 1964. Afterward he moved to Iowa City where in 1966 he earned a M.A. in Geography and in 1969 a PhD. He served on the faculty of the Department of Geography at Miami University of Ohio from 1968-1969 before moving to the Department of Geography at Indiana University in Bloomington. He remained at IU throughout his career, retiring in 2007 as Professor Emeritus after his second 4-year stint as Chair of the department, having also served in that capacity from 1985-1989. Additionally, he held appointments and leadership positions in the Transportation Research Center, Regional Analysis and Planning Program, and the Center for Urban and Regional Analysis in the Schools of Business and Public and Environmental Affairs at IU. Outside Bloomington he held a visiting professorship at Purdue University in 1973 and was a Guest Scholar of The Brookings Institution in 1982.

Bill was a foundational figure in Transport Geography. He directed over 20 transportation research and planning projects, published over 200 research papers and reports, and authored, co-authored, or served as editor of seven books. These contributions include comprehensive studies of the Federal Local Rail Service Assistance Act, a germinal textbook in transportation analysis, and a survey book of sustainability in transportation. He was responsible for the formation of the Transportation Geography Specialty Group of the Association of American Geographers and was a key figure in the development of the Journal of Transport Geography. He also served on the editing board of several major journals in transportation and environmental studies. For his ‘Significant Contributions to Transportation Geography’’, he was awarded the Edward L. Ullman Award by the Association of American Geographers in 1995 and was selected to present the Fleming Lecture in Transportation Geography at the Association of American Geographers meeting in Pittsburgh in 2000. He was extensively involved in the Transportation Research Board of the National Research Council, including serving twice as chair of the Committee on Social and Economic Factors. For his efforts he received the Board’s Distinguished Service Award in 2002, and designation as Emeritus Member for Significant Contributions to the Organization in 2005.

He was a singular academic in the extent of his involvement, contributions, and achievements outside academia. He was extensively involved in the planning and restructuring of American railroads in the turbulent 1970s for that industry. He served as Director of Rail Planning for the State of Indiana from 1974 to 1975, and was a Chief on the Activation Task Force of Conrail during its formation in 1975 to 1976. He served as the first Director of Transportation of the State of Indiana when that department was formed in 1980. He was also responsible for the routing and planning of the public transportation system in Bloomington, Indiana when it was introduced in 1972. His service to the State of Indiana was recognized by then Governor Otis T. Bowen in 1980 when he was named a Sagamore of the Wabash for Public Service, the highest honor a civilian can be awarded by the Indiana Governor’s office. Upon retirement, Bill stepped away to pursue a life-long love of creative writing. In retirement, he produced a biography of World War I correspondent and Brownsville, PA native Percival Phillips, and was working on one of Philander Case Knox when he died. He also published Mitigating Circumstances: The United States of America vs. Robert Black and Greenhouse Effects, A Novel as e-books.

Perhaps most of all, Bill had a way with words that was unmistakable to anyone who read his work or conversed with him. He had a knack for saying the most impactful thing at just the right time and as succinctly as could be stated. This made him an insightful teacher, engaging public speaker, delightful writer to read, and perhaps most meaningful for those who knew him, a most helpful confidant and mentor.

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William J. Black