Wade Currier

Wade Richardson Currier died September 18, 2005 at age seventy-seven. He was a long-time professor at Rowan University and served as Department Chair from 1983 to 1989.

Currier earned his BA and MA in geography from George Washington University and did post graduate work in geography at Clark University. He began his career with the U.S. Geological Survey and continued as a civilian with the U.S. Army Map Service, contributing research that led to the selection of the first lunar landing sites for NASA’s Apollo missions.

In 1965 Currier began at Rowan University as a professor of geography. He served as Chair of the Department of Geography and Anthropology from 1983 to 1989. In 2000 he retired from Rowan but continued to teach as an adjunct professor through 2004.

Wade Currier (Necrology). 2006. AAG Newsletter 41(6): 16.

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Gimpel Wajntraub

Dr. Gimpel Wajntraub, retired Head of the Department of Obstetrics and Gynecology at the Shaarae Zedek Medical Center in Jerusalem, Israel, and active member of the Bible Geography Specialty Group (BGSG), died September 9, 2005 in Jerusalem. He developed an interest in old maps of the Holy Land, co-edited the Israeli Map Collector Society’s Journal, wrote almost one hundred articles and a number of books including Hebrew Maps of the Holy Land, and attended the Annual Meetings of the AAG contributing papers in “Geography of the Bible” sessions. Gimpel amassed a very large “maps of the Holy Land” and “books on the Holy Land” collection.  He co-authored two articles, with his wife Eva, in the BGSG’s new book, Geography of the Holy Land:  Perspectives. The work of Gimpel and his wife Eva was featured in a April 22, 2005, article about geography of the Bible in the Intermountain Jewish News and about their papers presented at the AAG’s Annual Meeting in Denver 2005.

GImpel Wajntraub (Necrology). 2006. AAG Newsletter 41(1): 29.

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John Gertken

AAG member John Anthony Gertken died August 10, 2005, at age sixty-one in Lake St. Louis, Missouri.

Born April 27, 1944, Gertken was a 1962 graduate of Christian Brothers College Military Institute in St. Louis. He served in the U.S. Naval Reserve and attended Marquette University in Wisconsin, where he was a member of the U.S. Naval Reserve Academy.

Gertken spent over forty years as professional in the business of conveyor and automated handling systems. He earned an associates degree in 2003 from St. Charles Community College and shortly before his death graduated from Southern Illinois University at Edwardsville, Cum Laude, with a BS in geography.

John Anthony Gertken Jr. (Necrology). 2006. AAG Newsletter 41(6): 16.

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Catherine Cox

Fifty year AAG member Catherine E. Cox has died. Born October 12, 1914 in Minnesota she earned a BE at University of Minnesota-Duluth in 1936 and an MA at Clark University in 1942. Cox taught at Michigan State Normal College in Ypsilanti (1942-43) before serving in the WAVES (Women Accepted for Volunteer Emergency Service, a division of the U.S. Navy for females) during World War II. As of 1946, she was in charge of the Hydrographic Liaison Office in Washington, D.C. and in the early fifties served as an Instruction Officer of Recruit Training for the U.S. Navy in Bainbridge, Maryland. She retired as a Lieutenant Commander from the Navy Reserves in 1970.

Cox was also college geography professor at Fitchburg State College in Fitchburg, Massachusetts from 1964 to 1976.

Catherine Cox (Necrology). 2006. AAG Newsletter 41(8): 22.

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William Wood

Bill Wood, Deputy Assistant Secretary for Analysis and Production, U.S. Department of State, died July 4, 2005.  Wood was a prime mover in incorporating modern geographic technologies, in particular geographic information systems and imagery, to improve the U.S. government’s response to pressing issues of foreign policy. Wood also served as the Geographer of the United States.

Born November 14, 1956, Wood earned his undergraduate degree from the University of California at Berkeley in urban planning and non-renewable resources in 1980. He then obtained his master’s in urban and regional planning, and his PhD in geography from the University of Hawaii in 1985. Wood joined the Bureau of Intelligence and Research (INR) in 1985 as a geographer with the Office of the Geographer, and dedicated his entire government career to the Bureau of Intelligence and Research.  After entering the Senior Executive Service in 1990, he served as Director of the Bureau of Intelligence and Research (INR) Office of the Geographer and Global Issues. He was appointed as Deputy Assistant Secretary for Analysis and Production in 2002 while continuing to serve concurrently as Geographer of the United States. Among his many awards, he received the Anderson Medal in Applied Geography in 2001 from the Association of American Geographer’s Applied Geography Specialty Group. Wood was widely published on a variety of global issues including HIV diffusion and environment-migration linkages to complex emergency response. He co-edited Reordering the World – Geopolitical Perspectives on the 21st Century with George Demko.

Wood recognized the value of remote sensing and geographic information for diplomacy and humanitarian efforts and worked persistently in the diplomatic community to expand their use. Among some of his more notable accomplishments are his negotiations for the release of Shuttle Radar Topography Mission data for humanitarian and sustainable development uses. The Humanitarian Information Unit established by the Secretary of State in 2002, was based on his proposal to use geographic data, science, and information management tools to help coordinate humanitarian emergency response efforts. Wood was at the forefront of developing and implementing the concept of Internet-based information networks to provide critical “early-warning” information of humanitarian crises. He also worked with the Department of Defense Coalition Provisional Authority in Baghdad, where he spearheaded the creation of a GIS-based tracking system for U.S.-funded reconstruction projects.

William B. Wood III (Necrology). 2005. AAG Newsletter 40(8): 29.

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Keiichi Takeuchi

Keiichi Takeuchi died on June 26, 2005. He was a major influence in establishing bridges between the Japanese and Western cultures and in promoting collaboration between scientists.

Born July 12, 1932, Takeuchi graduated from the University of Tokyo in 1956 with a degree in geography, and in 1959 earned a master’s degree from the same institution. From 1966 to 1994, he taught at Hitotsubashi University of Tokyo on the faculty of social science, serving as Dean from 1988 to 1990 and later Professor Emeritus after his retirement from Hitotsubashi in 1994. He went on to teach in the Department of Geography at the University of Komazawa, Tokyo, until March 2003.Takeuchi was visiting professor at many institutions around the world including the University of Ireland, Galway (1973-74), Luigi Bocconi University in Milan, Italy (1974), the University of Indonesia, Jakarta (1975-77), the University of Paris VII, France (1985-86), and at Sheffield University, Great Britain (1985-86). He also gave lectures in many universities in Japan and abroad. His main interest was human geography. Starting in 1950 he dedicated himself to the study of Mediterranean regions, especially southern Italy. He spoke Italian and served as a Director of the Italian-Japanese Cultural Center. He was also Chair of the Commission on the History of Geographical Thought within the International Union of the History and Philosophy of Science (IUHPS), President of the Association of Japanese Geographers (1994-96), and President of the Japanese Association of Economic Geographers (1994-2000). Takeuchi was also a member of the International Geographical Union, the Societa Geografica Italiana, Societe de Geographie Francaise, and the Academia Geografica Argentina.He published numerous papers and books on these topics not only in Japanese but also in other languages. Among his works in Japanese are Topologue (Tokyo, 1992), Experiences of Nineteen Senior Geographers (co-author, 1999), and Data-Book of the World Countries (2000). His writings in English include Modern Japanese Geography: An Intellectual history (2000), and 1945-1964: A Japanese Perspective in the edited volume Japan: A Self-Potrait, Photographs 1945-1964 (M. Feustel, ed, Flammarion, Paris, 2004, also in French and later published in Japanese by Iwanami-shoten).

Keiichi Takeuchi (Necrology). 2005. AAG Newsletter 40(8): 29.

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Harold Winters

Harold Abraham “Duke” Winters died of a heart attack on Sunday, June 26, 2005, in Las Vegas, Nevada.

Winters was born on August 22, 1931, in Chicago, Illinois. After serving in the Navy, he completed his bachelor’s degree at Northern Illinois University, and master’s and doctoral degrees (1960) in geography at Northwestern University. He was a regular faculty member at Northern Illinois University and Portland State University, before a thirty-year tenure at Michigan State University. Winters was also a visiting professor at Northwestern University, Simon Fraser University, Georgetown University, Arizona State University, and the Universities of British Columbia and South Carolina, as well as serving as a guest lecturer at nearly fifty other universities. He had three separate one-year affiliations with the U.S. Military Academy at West Point and was twice awarded the U.S. Army Outstanding Civilian Service Medal.

Winters had research interests in glacial geomorphology, especially of the Midwestern United States, and later in military geography. He authored or co-authored more than 100 academic publications, several with his primary collaborator, Richard Rieck of Western Illinois University. He will be remembered for his book Battling the Elements: Weather & Terrain in the Conduct of War (1998), as well as for his advocacy of classic regional geographic studies. In 1989 Winters earned an AAG Honors citation for his service to the AAG, and in 1995 he received the Mel Marcus Distinguished Career Award from the AAG’s Geomorphology Specialty Group.

Harold Winters (Necrology). 2005. AAG Newsletter 40(8): 29.

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David Frost

David Frost, a Concordia University geography professor, died May 25.

Born in England in 1943, he graduated from McGill with BSc and MSc degrees in geography. In the 1960s McGill had major research interests in the Caribbean, and he worked in climatology projects on the islands and Guyana. He went to Birmingham University for his PhD to pursue his interests in the microclimatology of agricultural crops in the tropics.

After working at Queen Mary College, London, and the University of Regina, he joined Sir George Williams University in 1972 as an assistant professor, and within six months he was Chair of the Geography Department (1973-79).

He served in this capacity again from 1991-94, and as chair of the Geology Department from 1995-98. From 1984-85 he was Assistant Dean – Division II of the newly created Faculty of Arts and Science. He also sat on the Board of Governors (1989-92), and was President of Concordia University Faculty Association at the time of his death.

He had a keen sense of the discipline’s relevance to current issues, and his early interest in computer techniques was crucial in spearheading the Geography Department’s development of Geographical Information Systems (GIS).

Frost became an AAG member in 1973 and was also a long-time member of the New England-St Lawrence Valley Geographical Society, having served over the years as its President and Canadian representative.

David Frost (Necrology). 2005. AAG Newsletter 40(10): 54.

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Melvin Frost

Melvin “Mel” J. Frost died on June 26, 2004. Frost earned a bachelor’s in geology from Arizona State University in 1959, a master’s in geography from Brigham Young University in 1960, and a PhD in geography from the University of Florida in 1964. His first teaching position was at the University of Southern Mississippi. He came to Arizona State University in 1965 and spent twenty years teaching there before retiring in 1985.

Melvin Frost (Necrology). 2005. AAG Newsletter 40(7):23.

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John Garver

John Garver, former Chief Cartographer for National Geographic, died on May 22, 2005. Born July 11, 1928, he earned his BS at the U.S. Military Academy a West Point in 1952. Recognizing his keen geographical intellect and leadership potential in the classroom the Army sent him to Syracuse University in 1963 for training to teach geography at West Point. He completed his MA in 1965 and became and instructor in the Department of Earth, Space and Graphic Sciences at West Point in 1966. In 1969-70, he served as Parachute and Ranger and earned the Combat Infantryman’s Badge while commanding an Infantry Battalion in the Vietnam War and also served as deputy commander of a brigade. He was awarded numerous medals, including four Bronze Stars—two of these for valor. Other assignments took him around the world to various military installations in Germany, the Panama Canal Zone, Saudi Arabia, Fort Bragg, North Carolina, and Fort Benning, Georgia.

Following these assignments, he again returned to West Point as a Professor of Geography and was awarded his PhD from Syracuse in 1981 completing his dissertation topic on the “The Role of the United States Army in the Colonization of the Trans-Missouri West: Kansas, 1804-1861”. Meanwhile, he initiated two academic programs within the Geography Department at West Point that are still active today. The first is degree program in Environmental Engineering that focuses on global environmental concerns and the role of military. The second program, “Military Geography.” was John’s forte and incorporates historical geography at its core. During his time at West Point he hosted geographers, environmentalists, mountaineers, and American icons for on-campus lectures, as well as countless guests and former classmates from a broad spectrum of disciplines.

Garver was the author of several papers on and publications on geographic subjects including Landscape Atlas of the USSR and Selected Aspects of the Geography of Poverty. In 1982 he retired as Colonel from West Point and soon assumed the position of Senior Assistant Editor and Chief Cartographer for the Cartographic Division at the National Geographic Society (NGS). During his career at NGS he led the transition to computer cartography and initiated many projects, including the “Making of America Series” with his former advisor Donald Meinig as chief editorial consultant (seventeen regional maps) and “Making of Canada” series (six maps), with R. Cole Harris and John Warkentin. Garver launched the renowned Historical Atlas of the United States prepared as the principal work in celebration of the 100th anniversary of the NGS. The atlas featured the work of historical geographers such as Donald Meinig, Peirce Lewis, Sam Hilliard, Wilbur Zelinsky, and Fred Kniffen as well as scholars in history, anthropology, folklore, and architecture. As president of the Washington Map Society in 1987–88 he continued to host many lectures and events to bring this community to his new front porch at NGS. He published an article in the Portolan entitled Isaac McCoy: Forgotten Mapper of the Trans-Missouri West. Two other major atlases were produced using state of the art technology and imagery—the Atlas of North America: Space Age Portrait of a Continent (1985) and the Sixth Edition Atlas of the World. Again, through his impressive network of scholars and explorers, he released the acclaimed NGS map of “The World” with Arthur Robinson’s projection in 1988, which spearheaded an iconic look and format for the next seven years in many geographic publications. He also sponsored several cartographers in residence during this period hosting Arthur Robinson, David Woodward, and Judy Olson for staff tutorials and lectures on innovations in cartography. With mountaineer and explorer Brad Washburn, he also produced the highly-awarded “Map of Mt. Everest” included in the December 1988 issue of National Geographic. Garver spearheaded a long-standing relationship with ESRI and paved the way for a viable and sustaining digital mapping process that is reflected in subsequent editions of the Atlas of the World, now in its 8th edition.

After ten years he retired from NGS in 1991. He continued his literary and academic pursuits with lectures and travels to all corners of the world. He was elected to the Cosmos Club in 1993.In 2002 he published an entry on “Military Geography” for the thirty-volume Encyclopedia of the Behavioral and Social Sciences by Elsevier Press, Oxford. He was in the process of writing a book about the role of the U.S. Army in the colonization of the pre-Civil War trans-Missouri West when he died.

 

John B. Garver Jr. (Necrology). 2005. AAG Newsletter 40(9): 23.

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