Chandra Prasad Gurung

Chandra Gurung was born in the mountain village of Siklesh, the largest Gurung village in what is now Annapurna Conservation Area. Gurung—the general name for the indigenous people of the region as well as his surname—earned a master’s degree in rural development planning from the Asian Institute of Technology in Thailand and a PhD in medical geography from the University of Hawaii in 1988. He specialized in eco-tourism, sustainable development, integrated conservation and development, and protected area management.

Chandra was a pioneer in designing and implementing the first community-based integrated conservation and development project, the Annapurna Conservation Area Project (ACAP). He worked together with Mingma Sherpa on the scouting mission and planning for ACAP and later worked as its second director. This project is regarded worldwide as a success in integrating conservation with sustainable rural development and eco-tourism. Chandra, along with his colleagues, was a pioneer in the proposal and implementation of the Terai Arc Landscape, an ambitious conservation project in the southern plains of Nepal. He also served as member secretary of the King Mahendra Trust for Nature Conservation and received awards from the President of Finland, His Majesty Late King Birendra of Nepal, and His Royal Highness Prince Bernhard of the Netherlands. Since July 1999, Chandra served as a country representative for Nepal for the WWF. He was also a visiting professor at the International Union for the Conservation of Nature.

Chandra Prasad Gurung (Necrology). 2006. AAG Newsletter 41(10): 6.

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Harka Gurung

Harka Gurung was born in 1939 in Lamjung, Central Nepal, and went to military school in India. He earned BA honors from Patna College, Patna, India, and later earned a post-graduate diploma (1961) and PhD (1965) from the University of Edinburgh in Scotland. Harka’s main areas of professional interest included demography, development planning, environment, geography, sociology, and tourism. He was a prominent conservation expert and Nepal’s foremost authority on the Himalaya, making significant contributions to the promotion of mountain tourism and the conservation of wildlife and environment. Harka lead the government committee formed to provide names to mountain peaks in the late 1970s. He was also the chief advisor to the Nepal Maintaining Association. Harka served the government of Nepal at different times as member and vice chairman of the National Planning Commission (1968-75), minister of state for education (1975-78), and minister of state for tourism, industry and commerce, public works and transport. He also worked in academia as demonstrator at the University of Edinburgh, research fellow at the School of Oriental and African Studies at the University of London, lecturer at Tribhuvan University, and visiting fellow at the Population Institute/East-West Center. After leaving the government, he provided consulting services to numerous international organizations. Harka was director of the Asia Pacific Development Center, an inter-governmental think-tank (1993-97) and also served on the board of Lumbini Development Trust, International Centre for Integrated Mountain Development and International Institute of Educational Planning. Since 1991, Harka was associated with the research and consulting firm New ERA. Harka disagreed with the class and caste classification in Nepal and one religion/ one language policies. His work added to the debate over exclusion felt by many communities in Nepal. Harka authored numerous books including: Pokhara Valley: A Geographical Survey; Vignettes of Nepal and Annapurna to Dhaulagiri; A Decade of Mountaineering in Nepal Himalaya, 1950-1960; Janajati Serophero; From Exclusion to Inclusion: Socio-Political Agenda for Nepal; Faces of Nepal; Nature and Culture: Random Reflections; and Nepali Nationalism. His articles mainly focused on geography, nationalism, building of nation, and issues of Janajati indigenous people.

Harka Gurung (Necrology). 2006. AAG Newsletter 41(10): 6.

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Christopher Exline

Christopher H. Exline, longtime Chair of the Department of Geography at the University of Nevada, died on April 11, 2006.

Exline, born on July 23, 1947, earned an associate’s in 1969 from College of Marin, a bachelor’s in 1971 from Sonoma State, a master’s in 1974 from San Francisco State University, and a doctorate in 1978 from the University of California, Berkeley.

Exline taught at College of Marin from 1973-77 and at the University of Colorado, Colorado Springs from 1977-81 before coming to the University of Nevada in 1981. Exline served as Chair of the Geography Department there from 1981-97.

Over the years, Exline received many awards for his teaching and commitment to the university and community including the F. Donald Tibbitts Distinguished Teacher Award (1988), the Distinguished Alumni Award Sonoma State University Alumni Association (1991), the American Planning Association Nevada Chapter Meritorious Service Award (1995), the City of Sparks and Truckee Meadows Regional Planning Agency Meritorious Service Award (1995), and the Board of Regents Undergraduate Advisor Award (2000).

He also served on the City of Sparks Planning Commission (1987-95), the Truckee Meadows Regional Planning Agency (1989-95), and was involved in the Association of Pacific Coast Geographers for many years

Exline joined the AAG in 1971 and was a member until his death.

Christopher Exline (Necrology). 2006. AAG Newsletter 41(6): 16.

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William Withington

Longtime AAG member William A. Withington died January 5, 2006 at the age of eighty-one. He was born in Hawaii on February 17, 1924.

Withington obtained his PhD from Northwestern University in 1955. He accepted a faculty position at the University of Kentucky in 1955 where he spent thirty-four years, retiring in 1989. Withington’s research and teaching interests centered on urban and regional development in Southeast Asia, especially Indonesia. Upon his retirement Bill and his wife Anne established the Withington Endowment in the Department of Geography at the University of Kentucky, the proceeds of which are utilized to underwrite graduate student travel to professional meetings and to conduct field research, especially in foreign locales.

Withington joined the Association of American Geographers in 1947.

William A. Withington (Necrology). 2007. AAG Newsletter 42(1): 27.

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Sean Webster

Former geography professor at the University of North Texas (UNT) and retired Navy officer Sean Webster died on November 6, 2005. He was forty-six.

Webster was born in California in 1959. He moved to Texas before joining the Navy and serving as an electrician. He retired as a Lieutenant Commander. Webster earned an associates degree from Santa Ana College in 1987, a bachelor’s from University of New Mexico in 1989, and completed studies at Florida Institute of Technology in 1995. Webster came to UNT as a student in the fall of 1999 and graduated in the summer of 2004 with a master’s degree in applied geography. While completing his master’s degree, Webster served as a teaching assistant. After graduation, he became an adjunct professor at UNT, teaching courses in earth science, physical geology and culture, and environmental and society. Shortly before his death, he had accepted a full-time faculty position at Northeastern State University in Tahlequah, Oklahoma.

Sean Webster (Necrology). 2006. AAG Newsletter 41(6): 16.

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James Murry Hunter

James Murry Hunter, eighty-three, a longtime professor of geography at Georgetown University, died October 15 at his home in Rockville, Maryland of complications from a stroke.

Hunter joined the Georgetown faculty in 1946 and taught political geography until he retired in 1986. He was the author of Perspective on Ratzel’s Political Geography, published in 1983, and he co-wrote several other books on geography with other professors. He also was a visiting professor at Boston University and wrote numerous articles for professional journals.

Born in Homer City, Pennsylvania, Hunter graduated from Indiana University of Pennsylvania. He earned a master’s degree in geography from the University of Pittsburgh and a doctorate in geography from the University of Santo Domingo in the Dominican Republic.

During World War II, he served in the Army Corps of Engineers at Fort Belvoir.

He was a member of the American Association of Geographers and the American Association of University Professors.

James Murry Hunter (Necrology). 2005. AAG Newsletter 40(11): 17.

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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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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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Robert Goodman

Geography professor at Wayne State University, died April 15, 2005, at age eighty-six.

The youngest of four children, Goodman was born in Gwinn in Michigan’s Upper Peninsula. He studied geography at the University of Chicago, where he earned his bachelor’s and master’s degrees. In 1941, he went to work for the U.S. Army Map Service in Chicago and in 1942, was drafted by the Army to make war-related maps in Washington. He was honorably discharged as a technical sergeant in 1945.

Goodman earned his PhD in geography at Northwestern University. He also met his wife, Marjorie Smith, a fellow geography student at Northwestern; they married in 1950.

He joined Wayne State University’s geography department in 1948.

In his teaching, Goodman used more than 10,000 photo slides from a lifetime of trips to Asia, the Middle East, and Europe. Before the days of computers, he also allowed students to draft their maps in his Grosse Pointe Woods basement, which was filled with overhead cameras, tables, desks, and maps. He eventually incorporated film into his lesson plans and made a movie called “Growth Patterns in Detroit.”

In 1961, Goodman earned a Fulbright scholarship to spend a year in India to establish a geography department at the University of New Delhi.

He won numerous accolades including the Wayne State Excellence in Teaching Award in 1979 and a Distinguished Teaching Award from the NCGE in Ocho Rios, Jamaica, in 1983. Goodman retired in 1983.

Robert Goodman (Necrology). 2005. AAG Newsletter 40(6): 19.

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