Dear Colleagues,

We are sorry to convey the sad news of the death of prominent geographer
and of long-time AAG member Harm J. de Blij.

Harm de Blij was the John A. Hannah Professor of Geography at Michigan
State University. He received his undergraduate education from the
University of the Witwatersrand and his graduate degrees from
Northwestern (Ph.D. 1959). Among his honorary degrees are those awarded
by Michigan State (1999) and North Carolina State (2001). He was a
long-time faculty member at both Michigan State and the University of
Miami, and also taught at Georgetown, Colorado, Hawai'i, the Colorado
School of Mines, George Washington University, and Marshall University.
His prolific publications included more than 30 books and well over 100
articles.

He has been one of American geography's most visible leaders for the
past half-century. His specialties included political geography, African
regional studies, and geographic education-as well as the spatial
dimensions of viticulture, a thriving subdiscipline he helped to pioneer
during the 1980s and 1990s. His numerous awards included those from AAG,
NCGE, and NGS. He received AAG Honors in 1991, the AAG Presidential
Achievement Award in 2004, and the AAG Media Achievement Award in 2008.

Over the past 40 years, de Blij was also one of the few academic
geographers of his generation to make a major and lasting impact in the
public arena. He was much in demand on the lecture circuit and his
extraordinary communication skills were widely recognized (a generous
legacy is available on YouTube). In this sphere, he probably will best
be remembered for his seven-year stint as Geography Editor on ABC's/Good
Morning America/(1989-1996), whose contributions achieved a partial Emmy
Award as well as a full-page profile in/TV Guide/. His many other
accomplishments in this arena include his role as writer and commentator
in the original PBS Series,/The Power of Place/. His successful
trade-market book,/Why Geography Matters . . . More Than Ever/, has just
been published in its second edition by Oxford University Press.

Harm de Blij's record of service to the profession is monumental. At
AAG, he held several positions and appointments during his 53-year
membership. At NCGE, he edited the/Journal of Geography/. At NGS, he was
the founding editor of the scientific journal,/National Geographic
Research/, and a long-time member of the Committee on Research and
Exploration.

Harm de Blij was also highly skilled in areas beyond the profession. His
parents were both distinguished musicians and he remained a first-rate
violinist and chamber-music participant through the end of his life. He
was also an entirely-self-taught wine expert and collector as well as a
masterful carpenter-with cellars and home workshops to prove it.

A memorial event in honor of Harm de Blij will be held during the AAG
Annual Meeting in Chicago in early 2015.


Doug Richardson and Peter Muller

Douglas Richardson
Executive Director
Association of American Geographers
1710 Sixteenth Street, NW
Washington, DC  20009
Tel:  202-234-1450
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