The Professional Geographer

Robert W. Marx

Robert W. Marx, former Chief of the Geography Division at the U.S. Census Bureau, died following an illness. Marx served as the Geography Division’s Chief from 1983 to 2003, interrupted only by a three-year period as Associate Director in the 1990s to prepare for the 2000 Census. He was the architect of the Census Bureau’s TIGER System, which began in the early 1980s as a collaborative effort with the U.S. Geological Survey. Marx was known as a trailblazer who sought new ways to advance the importance of census geography through technological advances that were made practical through useful applications. By making spatial data for the nation available, the TIGER effort opened the way for GIS development and pioneered an entire new industry. Bob Marx began his GIS career in the early 1960s while a student in geography and urban planning at the University of Minnesota, studying under John Borchert. To cover his educational expenses, he worked in the offi ces of Hodne Associates, Architects and Planners, preparing land use and comprehensive plan maps for small communities in Minnesota and Illinois under the auspices of the former “Section 701” program of the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development. In this capacity, he used the precursor to modern automated GIS methods – mylar base maps and clear overlays emblazoned with Zipa- Tone shadings and Presstype letters – to create the various “views” that illustrated combinations of information integral to the planning process. After joining the Census Bureau in 1966, Marx helped launch the Bureau’s then fl edgling Metropolitan Map Series, which provided the base for the Address Coding Guides that covered the 145 largest urban centers of the United States for the 1970 decennial census. Although crude by today’s standards, these two systems – comprising the base map information of streets, street names, address ranges, rivers, lakes and their names, railroads, governmental unit boundaries and names, census tract boundaries and numbers – once entered into the Census Bureau’s computers and enhanced with the Dual Independent Map Encoding (DIME) technologies, this series evolved into the Geographic Base Files (GBFs) covering the 287 largest urban centers of the 1980 census, and then to the Topologically Integrated Geographic Encoding and Referencing (TIGER) files that covered the entire United States, Puerto Rico, and the associated Island Areas of the 1990 census and Census 2000. During his more than 36-year career at the Census Bureau, Marx received several awards for exceptional performance, including the Department of Commerce’s Gold and Silver Medals, and the Meritorious Presidential Rank Award. A memorial/tribute session in honor of Bob Marx is currently being organized at the AAG Annual Meeting for the evening of Wednesday, April 14. Consult your conference program for place and time.

Robert W. Marx (Necrology). 2009. AAG Newsletter 45(3): 14.

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Alan D. MacPherson

Alan MacPherson, Professor of Geography at the State University of New York at Buffalo, died recently at the age of 51. He had served as Chair of the Department of Geography from 2001-2007. He was also Director of SUNy-buffalo’s Canada-United States Trade Center (CUSTAC). MacPherson was born and raised in Inverness, Scotland. He earned bachelor’s and master’s degrees in geography from the University of Dundee in the United Kingdom in 1979, and a master’s degree in planning from Edinburgh College of Art in 1981. In 1982, he earned a master’s degree in geography from the University of Toronto, where he also earned his doctorate in 1988. MacPherson’s principal research interests concerned the relationship between technological innovation and regional economic development, with special emphasis on export development and Canada-U.S. trade. His teaching included undergraduate and graduate courses in international business and economic geography. He became an Associate Professor at SUNy-buffalo in 1988.

Alan D. MacPherson (Necrology). 2009. AAG Newsletter 44(7): 19.

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Charles Gildersleeve

Charles Gildersleeve, longtime professor of geography at the University of Nebraska- Omaha and one of the founders of the Geographic Educators of Nebraska, died recently at the age of 69. “Chuck” Gildersleeve was born in Iowa and earned a PhD from the University of Nebraska-Lincoln. He taught at the University of Nebraska-Omaha for 45 years, beginning his career there in 1964. He served as Chair of the department from 1981-1988. Gildersleeve’s first love was teaching and over the course of his career he estimated that he had taught urban, economic and educational geography to nearly 20,000 college students. Numerous teaching awards and other accolades were presented to him by the University of Nebraska-Omaha and other national professional groups. He was extremely popular with students, who regularly mentioned him in evaluations as a teacher who made a difference in their lives. Gildersleeve was also active in outreach to the community, giving hundreds of talks and workshops to classes and teachers in K-12 schools around Nebraska. He was a faculty coordinator of the Geographic Educators of Nebraska from 1987-2007. Gildersleeve also was responsible for running the Nebraska Geographic Bee from 1988-2007 under the aegis of the National Geographic Society, in which tens of thousands of students learned to hone their geography skills and compete for trips to Washington D.C. He was active in working with various community groups and served on statewide and local education committees.

Charles Gildersleeve (Necrology). 2009. AAG Newsletter 45(3): 14.

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George R. Rumney

George Richard Rumney, Professor Emeritus at the University of Connecticut, died recently at the age of 94. His 1968 college textbook, Climatology and the World’s Climates, laid the foundations for the burgeoning study of climate and climate change. Rumney earned a bachelor’s degree from the University of Michigan in 1940. After graduation, he enlisted in the Royal Canadian Air Force. Rumney subsequently joined the U.S. Navy, where as a lieutenant he commanded a submarine chaser in the Pacific during World War II. He would later attribute his fascination with atmospheric phenomena to his years at sea. Following the war, Rumney joined the Office of Strategic Services (OSS) for his knowledge of geography and mapping skills before returning to the University of Michigan, where he earned a PhD in 1947. In 1948, Rumney joined the faculty of the University of Connecticut, where he persuaded his colleagues and the administration that the broad study of geography merited its own separate department. Rumney taught the University of Connecticut’s first course in oceanography and lobbied both the administration and the Connecticut State Legislature to support marine sciences. His efforts culminated in the University’s establishment of The Marine Science Institute (MSI) at UCONN’s Avery Point campus. After his retirement as Professor Emeritus in 1983, Rumney continued to travel, delving into the maritime culture and history of Portugal as well as making trips to Costa Rica’s cloud forests and the Australian outback. He maintained an office at the Marine Science Institute, where he attended seminars and followed the progress of an increasingly international group of graduate students while continuing to write for various professional journals. As a naturalist, avid walker, gardener, and bird-watcher, Rumney headed the Groton Long Point Conservation Commission for several years following his retirement.

George R. Rumney (Necrology). 2009. AAG Newsletter 44(7): 19.

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Glen Elder

Glen Elder, Associate Professor of Geography at the University of Vermont, died recently at the age of 42 after collapsing while jogging near his Burlington home. A political geographer, he was known for his rigorous, critical, and innovative work on queer space, heteronormativity, masculinities, race, bodies, and borders in the post-9/11 context. Elder earned undergraduate degrees in both Geography and English at the University of Witwatersrand in his home country of South Africa. He completed his MA (1992) and PhD (1995) at Clark University. Elder was appointed as a Visiting Assistant Professor at the University of Vermont in 1995, Assistant Professor in 1998, and achieved tenure and promotion to Associate Professor in 2002. He was in the process of preparing his dossier for promotion to full Professor at the time of his death. Elder had served on an interim basis as Associate Dean of the College of Arts and Sciences since 2008 and had been scheduled to begin that role on a permanent basis on July 1. He was also past chair of the Department of Geography at UVM (2005-08). A well-known and respected teacher at the University of Vermont, Elder received a kroepsch Maurice Award for Excellence in Teaching in 2004 and the Dean’s Lecture Award for outstanding Teaching and Scholarship in 2005. known for his commitment to confronting issues of marginalization and uneven power relations in the geography of sex, race, and place, he taught classes in African regional geography, political geography, feminist geography, and sexuality and space. Elder’s publications include Hostels, Sexuality and the Apartheid Legacy: Malevolent Geographies (ohio University Press, 2003) and more than a dozen other articles and book chapters.

Glen Elder (Necrology). 2009. AAG Newsletter 44(8) 20.

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Fred Lukermann

Fred E. Lukermann, professor emeritus at the University of Minnesota and a former Dean of the College of Liberal Arts, died on September 1, 2009. A Minneapolis native, born December 9, 1921, Lukermann graduated

from Roosevelt High School in 1940 and entered the University of Minnesota the following fall. He returned to the University after serving in the U.S. Army, earning B.S., M.A. and PhD degrees. Lukermann joined the University of Minnesota’s Geography Department in the early 1950s and helped that program achieve steadily greater national and international recognition. As department chair, Lukermann promoted a pervasive spirit of wide-ranging and creative intellectual inquiry. Lukermann assumed several leadership roles at the University of Minnesota in addition to his term as chair of the Geography Department. He was instrumental in establishing the Departments of African American & African Studies, American Indian Studies, Chicano Studies, the Urban Studies Program, the School of Public Affairs (later renamed the Humphrey Institute of Public Affairs), and the Center for Urban and Regional Affairs. Along with his inspired teaching, generous

advising of graduate students, and creative scholarly output, Lukermann pursued lifelong interests in what he termed the “proto-geography” of Classical Greece, the development of modern geographic thought and practice within the history of science, the historical geography of North America, and cultural pluralism.

Fred E. Lukermann (Necrology). 2009. AAG Newsletter 44(10): 17.

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Mei-Ling Hsu

Mei-Ling Hsu, retired Professor of Geography, University of Minnesota, passed away in late May of 2009. Born in 1932, Hsu received her B.A. from Taiwan Normal University (1954), M.A. from Southern Illinois University (1956), and M.A. (1959) and PhD (1966) from the University of Wisconsin. Hsu was a highly-respected scholar in the areas of cartographic symbolization, Chinese cartography, and map projections, with additional specialties in population geography and East Asian studies. Her publications include (with Arthur H. Robinson), The Fidelity of Isopleth Maps: an Experimental Study (University of Minnesota Press, 1970); a detailed map with extensive notes on population growth and urbanization, “Taiwan Population Distribution, 1965,” Map Supplement No. 11 in the Annals of the AAG, 59: 3 (1969); and cartographic design for a number of influential college texts. Hsu joined the University of Minnesota’s Department of Geography in 1965, where she later served as Chair from 1994 to 1997. She was also the first Director of the university’s China Center and was instrumental in building the cartography and GIS programs in the Department of Geography.

Mei-Ling Hsu (Necrology). 2009. AAG Newsletter 44(8):21.

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Peter Burrough

Peter Alan burrough, an innovator in GIS research, died earlier this year in Leiden, The Netherlands. Burrough received his bSc (First Class Honors) in chemistry from the University of Sussex, brighton in 1965, and his doctorate from the University of Oxford in 1969. In 1973, he went to Sydney, Australia to become Lecturer in Soil Science at the University of New South Wales. Burrough moved to The Netherlands in 1976, where he was based for nearly three decades. He first worked in Wageningen as a Senior Research Scientist at STIbOKA (the Dutch Soil Survey) from 1976 to 1980. He later moved to Wageningen Agricultural University, where he became Senior Lecturer in Spatial Analysis and Soil Science. Burrough was appointed Professor of Physical Geography and Geographical Information Systems at the Geographical Institute of Utrecht University in 1984. Research activities in physical geography at Utrecht University before that time had mainly focused on geomorphology. Under Burrough’s leadership, GIS, geostatistics, environmental modeling, and remote sensing were introduced to both the teaching curriculum and the research agenda of the department. Between 1984 and 1994, he was the initiator and chairman of two major five-year research programs: Landscape, Environment, and Land Use (LAMIRU) from 1984 to 1988, and Geographical Information Systems and Landscape Analysis (GISLA) from 1988 to 1993. Burrough is recognized for a seminal work in GIS, Principles of Geographical Information Systems. Published in 1986 by theClarendon Press, the book became an instrumental resource for soil scientists as well as geographers, surveyors, social scientists, urban planners and students in these fields. The book promoted interest in the newly developing GIS field. Peter A. Burrough (Necrology). 2009. AAG Newsletter 44(7): 19.

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Samuel Attoh

Samuel Stephen Nii Kojo Armah Aryeetey-Attoh was born June 26, 1956, in Accra, Ghana. He was the last born and only son to Samuel Attoh and Cecilia Taiwo Attoh.

Samuel received his BA with Honors from the University of Ghana, his Masters from Carleton University in Ottawa, Canada, and his Ph.D. from Boston University, Massachusetts.

Dr. Attoh began his academic career at the University of Toledo, where he was a Geography Professor from 1987 to 2005. During this time, he also served as Chairman of Geography and Planning department from 1996 to 2003. He served as a Fellow of the American Council on Education and Administrative Placement Intern Mentor at Carnegie Mellon University, Pennsylvania, from 2003-2004.

In June 2005, Dr. Attoh became the Dean of the Graduate School for Loyola University Chicago and later added Associate Provost for Research and Centers to his title. In July of 2015, Dr. Attoh became the Interim Provost for Loyola University Chicago.

Dr. Attoh has served on the Doctoral Dissertation and Research Improvement Review Panel of the National Science Foundation, the Executive Committee of the Association of American Geographers, and was the former President of the Illinois Association of Graduate Schools. He was also a member of the Council of Graduate Schools Advisory Committee on Minorities in Graduate Education, the World Education Services Graduate Advisory Board, and the Board of the Diversifying Higher Education Faculty in Illinois Program.

Dr. Attoh was author of the book Geography of Sub-Saharan Africa (Prentice Hall, 2009) and contributed chapters in Global Change in Local Places (University of Cambridge Press, 2004), World Regional Geography (Prentice Hall) and the Columbia Gazetteer (Columbia University Press), he also published more than 30 journal articles and technical reports and presented more than 40 papers at national and international conferences.

Through his hard work, Dr. Attoh received recognition and honors, including ETS/MAGS Award to Graduate School for Excellence and Innovation in Graduate Education, Outstanding Professional Staff Award from LUC Office of Student Diversity and Multicultural Affairs. Social Justice Award from the LUC Graduate Students of Color, Association of American Geographers Service Recognition, Key to the Community Award from the Ottawa Community Development Corporation, University of Toledo College of Arts and Science Dean’s Merit Award and Master Teacher Award, Outstanding Contribution to the African People’s Association from Bowling Green State University, Outstanding UUP-sponsored Urban Research Projects from Ohio Urban University Program, American Biographical Institute Board of Advisors, and has been featured in Who’s Who in America, Midwest, and World.

Samuel “Paa-Nii” was a devoted husband and father who worked tirelessly for his family and dedicated his life to being a provider. He was a devout Catholic, which showed through his integrity and kindness. His favorite prayers were the Sacred Heart Morning Prayer and Thanksgiving Psalm. Samuel also loved to travel, visiting countries such as London, El Salvador, and Brazil, enjoying many road trips with his family, driving while explaining the geography, or catching shows and hitting in the slots in Vegas with his wife (often hitting the jackpot)!

Samuel passed away, peacefully, at home, on Monday, February 6, 2017. He leaves, to cherish his memory, a dedicated wife of 36 years, Antoinette, dear children, Annette, Annabelle (cherished son-in-law Ian), Stefan, and Sasha. His two beloved grandsons: Jersey and Aidan. His walking buddy and dog, Shika. Four sisters: Sylvia, Patricia, Susan, and Tina. Father-in-law, Gilbert Alipui Sr. Preceded in death by his eldest sister, Naa-Dedei, he became like a second dad to her children, Leonne, Laurie Ann, and Leroy. Samuel also leaves behind a number of other nieces, nephews, cousins, brothers-in-law, sisters-in-law, family, and friends. He will be sorely missed.

Originally published in the Bolingbrook-McCauley Funeral Chapel.

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