Peter H. Nash Sr.

Peter Nash died on January 19, 2011. He was Distinguished Professor Emeritus, University of Waterloo, Canada.

Nash took a B.A. degree at UCLA in 1942 before enlisting in the U.S. Army. He won two Purple Hearts and the Bronze Star during World War II, serving with the United States 160th Engineer Combat Battalion and the 12th Army Group Intelligence Service. After the war he took an MCP from the Harvard Graduate School of Design (1949), an M.P.A. from the Graduate School of Public Administration (1956), and a Ph.D. from Harvard University (1958).

As his career unfolded, Nash moved from Medford, Massachusetts, to the University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill, to the University of Cincinnati, to the University of Rhode Island. In 1970, he became the founding dean of the new faculty of environmental studies at the University of Waterloo, Ontario. In each of these stages of his career he was involved in applied geography with special reference to planning and administration. As the years passed, he became ever more interested in the larger reaches of thought. At Waterloo the new faculty included four academic units: architecture, geography, man-environment studies, and urban and regional planning. Nash studied and published in each of these units.

Nash published 180 items including articles, reviews, and notes during an active career. These are listed as appendix B in Abstract Thoughts: Concrete Solutions: Essays in Honour of Peter Nash (1987. Eds. L. Guelke and R. Preston). Included in this collection of 15 essays by geographers whose lives were touched by Nash is his autobiographical essay, “The Making of a Humanist Geographer: a circuitous journey.” This chapter reveals study with Whittlesey at Harvard, participations at IGU Conferences, his enthusiasm for music and its place in the humanities, administrative moves encouraging ever more study of the environment, participation in the Delos conferences, and activity within the AAG. Some of his other interests are indicated by his membership of the board of directors of the Kitchener-Waterloo Philharmonic Choir, Kitchener Rotary International American Planning Association, and the American Geographical Society.

Peter H. Nash Sr. (Necrology). 2011. AAG Newsletter 46(4): 29.

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Charles F. Lane

Charles Franklin Lane, professor emeritus of geography at Longwood College (now University) in Farmville, Virginia and longtime member of the AAG, died on December 31, 2010 in Lynchburg, Virginia.

Lane was born December 10, 1919 in Knox County, Tennessee. He received his B.A. degree from the University of Tennessee in 1944 and his M.S. in 1945. He then pursued graduate work at Clark University and Northwestern University, finishing his Ph.D. at the latter institution in 1951. After teaching at the University of Georgia, he began his 35-year tenure as professor of geography and geology at Longwood College in 1951. During his career at Longwood, he served as president and journal editor of the Virginia Geographical Society; state coordinator for the National Council for Geographic Education; managing editor of the Virginia Journal of Science; chairman of the Virginia Resource-Use Educational Council; and president and secretary-treasurer of the Virginia Social Science Association.

Charles F. Lane (Necrology). 2011. AAG Newsletter 46(5): 22.

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William Beetschen

C. William “Bill” Beetschen died in 2010 at the age of 84. Born in Pekin, Illinois, he later moved to Bremerton, Washington. He joined the U.S. Navy in July of 1943 at the age of 17. He was assigned to the Argus 27 unit and later to an aircraft carrier, the U.S.S. Shangri-La, CV-38, where he served as a radarman third class prior to his discharge in April, 1946. A brief summary of his wartime activities in the Pacific appears in the book, Heroes Among Us, Volume 2. In November 1950, he was recalled and served on the U.S.S. J.C. Butler (DE 339) during the early days of the Korean War. Beetschen earned his Ph.D. from the University of Washington and later moved to Washington, D.C. to work for the U.S. Geologic Survey, where he spent the majority of his professional career. He did early work on the National Atlas of the United States and was often responsible for USGS liaison with the domestic and international cartographic communities, map and atlas publishers, federal and state mapping agencies, and the public. His wife, Liz Beetschen, served as the AAG Executive Assistant for 30 years.

C. William “Bill” Beetschen (Necrology). 2011. AAG Newsletter 46(4): 29.

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Phillip Bacon

Phillip Bacon died recently at the age of 88. Bacon attended the University of Miami, and graduated with a bachelor’s degree 1946. He earned his MA at George Peabody College (1951) and an ED .D. from Vanderbilt University (1955). He attended The Citadel prior to service in the U.S. Navy during World War II. After his discharge he served at the University of Houston; the University of Washington; and Teachers College, Columbia University. Throughout his career he was keenly interested in the pedagogies of geography, which led to his editing and/or writing of 51 books largely for grade schools. Bacon worked vigorously with the National Council of Geographic Education (NCGE). He became president of NCGE and in 1974 received its Distinguished Service Award. Bacon also received the Distinguished Alumnus Award from George Peabody College for Teachers of Vanderbilt University. Amidst the travail of war he developed a fond appreciation of the Pacific realm. Bacon’s particular disciplinal interest resided in the region, which he felt was of universal significance to the geographer. The many books he authored include North America: Golden Book Atlas of the World (1960); The Earth and Its People (1972); Regions around the World (1972); and The United States: Its History and Neighbors (1991). He was a member of the editorial advisory board of World Book Encyclopedia for twenty years, a Fellow of both the Explorers Club and the Royal Geographical Society, and a consultant to NASA (Johnson Space Center) concerning wheat growth and its limits in the Soviet Union.

Phillip Bacon (Necrology). 2010. AAG Newsletter 45(10): 22.

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Martin Glassner

Martin Glassner, 78, (1932-2010) was born in Plainfield, New Jersey. He served in the U.S. Armed Forces, and took degrees at Syracuse University (1953); California State University, Fullerton (1964); and, subsequently, a doctorate at the Claremont Graduate School. He was American Vice Consul in Kingston, Jamaica, 1960-1962, and Antofogasta, Chile, 1962-1963. Glassner joined the Geography Department at Southern Connecticut State University in 1968, retiring in 1995 after teaching a variety of courses, sitting on committees, and, for some of the time, chairing the Department. While in situ he was recipient of the Faculty Scholar Award, and was installed as a Connecticut State University Professor. His specialty was political geography with special reference to the significance of landlocked states. He worked for the United Nations in both Asia and Africa, focusing on landlocked states, transit to the sea, boundaries, development and international law. Glassner’s interest in Latin America resulted in membership on the Board of the Conference of Latin Americanist Geographers. Among his publications are Access to the Sea for Developing Land-Locked States (1971), Bibliography on Land-Locked States (1980), Systematic Political Geography (1980) and Neptune’s Domain: A Political Geography of the Sea (1990).

Martin Ira Glassner (Necrology). 2010. AAG Newsletter 45(10): 22.

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Charles V. Ebert

Charles H.V. “Vince” Ebert (1924-2011) took his degrees at the University of North Carolina: B.A. 1951; M.A. 1953; Ph.D. 1957. He joined the Department of Geology at the University of Buffalo in 1954. Nine years later, in 1963, he was invited to help found a Geography Department. He accomplished this and was installed as its first chair. From 1963 to 1970 he built the department and then was brought to the post of Undergraduate Dean, 1970-1977.

Ebert taught Physical Geography, Soils (in a sequence of three courses), Climatology, Oceanography, and Disasters. Earlier he had offered regional courses relating to Europe, the USSR, Central and South America. He traveled widely, and accumulated a large slide collection which he used to illustrate classroom lectures. His classes were considered thought-provoking, interesting, and otherwise excellent. Ebert continued to teach classes in retirement until forced to stop due to ill health. Meanwhile, he had been awarded a SUNY Distinguished Teaching Professorship and the Distinguished Teaching Award from the National Council for Geographic Education. Of his courses, “Disasters: A Study of Hazards,” was his favorite. For this course, he wrote the book Disasters: Violence of Nature and Threats by Man.

Ebert spent his early years in Germany (born there of American parents), learned five languages, and came to be highly regarded for his good judgment both on and off the campus. This led to receiving the University’s “Mr. Faculty Award” in 1965 and 1968. Apart from holding a considerable number of university service posts on campus he also received a number of grants (several from the SUNY Research Foundation) with which to undertake research in the field, from which a number of interesting articles were culled.

Charles V. Ebert (Necrology). 2011. AAG Newsletter 46(4): 29.

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Daniel J. Hogan

Daniel J. Hogan, for 35 years as a Professor at the University of Campinas (UNICAMP), in Campinas, Brazil, near Sao Paolo, has died. A major contributor to the field of population and environment, Hogan trained many top Brazilian demographers and was part of the first (and only) Committee on Population and Environment at IUSSP in 1990-94, which helped pave the way for the development of both PERN and the new field of Population and Environment. He organized and hosted the first international conference on the topic in Campinas in 1992, which included the first significant presentation of findings from the initial 1990 survey of migrant colonists in Ecuador, along with other early case studies on population and environment in the Philippines, India, Nepal, Thailand, Cameroon, Brazil, Mexico, Honduras, Costa Rica, Argentina and Peru.

Hogan was a member of the Brazilian Academy of Sciences, former president of Brazilian Population Association (ABEP), and served as Professor and Founding Researcher of the Unicamp Population Studies Center (NEPO) and the Environmental Studies Center (NEPAM). Hogan was also an active member of the International Union for the Scientific Study of Population (IUSSP), the Population Geography commission of the International Geographical Union (IGU), and Population & Environment’s editorial board.

Daniel J. Hogan (Necrology). 2010. AAG Newsletter 45(9): 22.

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Jennifer L. DeHart

Jennifer DeHart died recently following a long struggle with cancer. DeHart had a lifelong passion for protecting the environment and promoting sustainable living. After her graduation from Emory and Henry College in 1988 with a bachelor’s degree in environmental studies, she continued at Appalachian State University and the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, where she earned a master’s degree and a doctorate, respectively. She held faculty and research positions focusing on a major project funded by NASA to better measure, predict, and understand greenhouse gas emissions at the local to regional level. DeHart embraced the Meadville area in 2001 when she started serving as an assistant professor of environmental science at Allegheny College, teaching courses on a variety of topics including climate change, environmental research methods, and sustainable energy. As a college professor, she enthusiastically taught about the importance of environmental sustainability. Combining her devotion to teaching and the community, DeHart collaborated with Allegheny College students to conduct a greenhouse gas emissions inventory for the city of Meadville. Dedicated to advancing the local foods movement, she spearheaded the revitalization of the farmers’ market at the Meadville Market House. She worked tirelessly to develop a strong network of area farmers and community members, ensuring the market would continue to thrive for many years to come.

Jennifer L. DeHart (Necrology). 2010. AAG Newsletter 45(7): 15.

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James Wheeler

James O. Wheeler, the Merle Prunty, Jr., Professor Emeritus, Department of Geography, University of Georgia, died at his home in Athens, Georgia, on Thursday, December 9, 2010. Born in Muncie, Indiana, on March 7, 1938, he was the son of educators Emerson Franklin Wheeler and Ruby Rachel McCreery Wheeler. He attended Indiana public schools and received his undergraduate degree from Ball State Teachers College (now Ball State University). After teaching English and geography in junior high and high school, he began graduate work at Indiana University, where he was awarded the M.A. in 1963 and the Ph.D. in 1966.

Wheeler’s early teaching career at the college level included positions at Indiana University (Gary), Ohio State University, Western Michigan University, and Michigan State University. In 1971, he joined the faculty of the University of Georgia’s Department of Geography, where he served as department head from 1975 to 1983. He advised graduate students and taught until his retirement in 1999, and his active professional life of writing and research continued until his death.

Wheeler served as head of two divisions of the Association of American Geographers, first as chair of the East Lakes Division and later as president of the Southeastern Division. He published numerous research articles and authored two widely used textbooks, Economic Geography and Urban Geography. He was a founding editor of the journal Urban Geography, which he co-edited from 1980 to 2003. In addition, from 1992 to 2003 he served as editor of the Southeastern Geographer.

Wheeler was inducted into Phi Kappa Phi and received the Creative Research Medal from the University of Georgia, Honors from the Association of American Geographers, and the Southeastern Division of the AAG’s (SEDAAG) Research Award, Outstanding Service Award, and Lifetime Achievement Award.

James O. Wheeler (Necrology). 2011. AAG Newsletter 46(2): 45.

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Howard Critchfield

Howard John Critchfield (“Critch”), Professor Emeritus of Geography at Western Washington University, died peacefully at home November 17, age 90. He was born September 24, 1920 in Vernon, Colorado, to Mabel and Owen Critchfield, both schoolteachers. Critchfield graduated high school in Bonners Ferry, Idaho. After completing a two-year teacher’s training course at the Lewiston State Normal School (now Lewis- Clark State College), he taught for a time in a one-room schoolhouse where the pupils called him “Howie.” Critchfield served in the Army Air Corps/Air Force during World War II. He received specialized Arctic and Weather Observation training and was eventually posted to the 16th Weather Squadron in Nome, Alaska. After an Honorable Discharge early in 1946, the GI Bill led to academic successes. Critchfield received a BA in Geography and an MA in Geography and Climatology from the University of Washington. A Carnegie Grant, a Fulbright Award, and grants from the New Zealand Department of Internal Affairs enabled him to undertake research in New Zealand from 1948-1950. The University of Washington awarded Critchfield his Doctorate in 1952. His dissertation was The Agricultural Geography of Southland, New Zealand. Critchfield joined the faculty of Western Washington University in 1951. He retired in 1988. During his tenure he served as Chair of the Geography Department, was the official State Climatologist of Washington, through appointment by the Governor, and he pursued his research with travel, sabbaticals, and visiting lectureships and exchanges which took him to New Zealand again and again, as well as to Australia, South Asia, Europe, Japan, India and Nepal, South Africa, Micronesia, and Oman. He authored the acclaimed textbook General Climatology. Long before Wikipedia, Critchfield was well known for his contributions to Encyclopedia Americana and The World Book Encyclopedia. His lifelong enthusiasm for exploring the world and for the exactitude of the natural sciences made him a resourceful guide to students, colleagues, and friends.

Howard Critchfield (Necrology). 2011. AAG Newsletter 46(1): 46.

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