Paul W. Mausel

Paul W. Mausel, retired professor of geography at Indiana State University, died Tuesday, Oct. 1, 2013. He was 77. He was a successful, prolific remote sensing specialist, who achieved respect from his students and colleagues through his hard work teaching, researching, publishing and grant writing, as well as showing fairness and respect for all.

Mausel earned his bachelor’s and master’s degrees in geography from the University of Minnesota in 1959 and 1961, respectively. In 1966, he received his Ph.D. in geography and soils from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill.

He taught at Eastern Illinois University from 1965 through 1971. That year, he joined the Indiana State University (ISU) faculty, where he was recognized and served on several projects. In 1972-73, he was sent to the Purdue University Laboratory for the Application of Remote Sensing. He was also appointed to direct ISU’s Remote Sensing Lab and served from 1973 until 1998. During that time in 1978, he was sent to the International Institute for Aerial Survey and Earth Science in Enschede, The Netherlands. In 2001, he retired from ISU as a distinguished professor.

Mausel’s productive research and grant-writing contributions brought ISU more than $2-million, including from NASA and NSA. During his career, he published more than 150 articles and book chapters, presented more than 100 talks at professional meetings and workshops and served in various leadership roles on countless committees for M.A. theses, Ph.D. dissertations, and university research and governance. He also reviewed more than 125 journal articles and more than 60 funding proposals from NSF, NASA, USDA, National Geographic Society and others.

Mausel was married to his wife, Jean, and they had three children.

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Richard Stephenson

Richard W. Stephenson died September 25, 2013 at age 82.
Dick Stephenson retired (with 40 years service) from the Library of Congress in January 1992 as the Geography and Map Division’s Specialist in American Cartographic History. He was present at the organizing meeting of the Washington Map Society (WMS) on May 2, 1979 and served as the organization’s fourth president in 1982-1983. Dick was the author or editor of numerous articles and publications including Civil War Maps (1989), “A Plan Whol[l]y New: Pierre Charles L’Enfant’s Plan of the City of Washington” (1993), and with Marianne M. McKee, Virginia in Maps: Four Centuries of Settlement, Growth, and Development (2000). His most recent article for The Portolan was “A City in Transition: Mapping the Nation’s Capital from Civil War to the Creation of a Comprehensive Plan, 1861-1902” (issue 72 – Fall 2008). Dick’s article “General Lee’s Forgotten Mapmaker:  Major Albert H. Campbell and the Department Of Northern Virginia’s Topographical Department” appeared in Issue 60 (Fall 2004).  He often reviewed books for The Portolan:  Torn in Two (issue 81 – Fall 2011), Mapping the World: An Illustrated History of Cartography (issue 65 – Spring 2006), and The Mismapping of America (issue 58 – Winter 2003-2004). His reminiscences of former G&M Chief Walter Ristow in issue 66 (Fall 2006) included much about his own service at the G&M Division. In addition Dick delivered numerous presentations before the Washington Map Society, the Society for the History of Discoveries, and other sister groups.

Courtesy Washington Map Society, www.washmapsociety.org.

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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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