Obituaries

Mary Meader
The New York Times: “Mary Meader, who as a spunky new bride in the 1930s took off on a 35,000-mile journey to advance geographic knowledge by making unprecedented aerial photographs of South America and Africa, died Sunday in Kalamazoo, Mich…. »
Posted on Monday, April 7, 2008 at 9:42 PM
Categories: Obituaries, Satellite & Aerial
More About John Bartholomew
More obituaries of John Bartholomew, who died last month, from the Guardian, Independent and Times. Via MapHist…. »
Posted on Monday, February 25, 2008 at 2:15 PM
Categories: Obituaries
John Bartholomew
John Bartholomew — who, along with his two brothers, was “the last generation of the Edinburgh cartographic family to run the business of John Bartholomew & Son Ltd.” — has died aged 85, the Edinburgh Evening News reports. The Edinburgh-based… »
Posted on Saturday, January 26, 2008 at 3:40 PM
Categories: Books, Obituaries
Recent Obituaries
The deaths of the following people associated with cartography were reported recently: Tom Devine (1927-2006) spent 32 years working as a cartographer for the USGS; he was a mountain climber and stereographic photographer in his off-hours. Via Maps-L. Bradford Washburn… »
Posted on Saturday, January 13, 2007 at 7:40 PM
Categories: Cartography, Obituaries, Topo Maps & Trails
Marie Tharp and Plate Tectonics
The New York Times Magazine’s year-end retrospective on deaths of notable people in 2006 includes a profile of Marie Tharp, the oceanographic cartographer who died earlier this year (see previous entry). David Tiley places her career struggles in context:… »
Posted on Tuesday, January 2, 2007 at 7:41 AM
Categories: Cartography, Earth Sciences, Obituaries
Marie Tharp
Columbia University reports the death yesterday of Marie Tharp, an oceanographic cartographer who worked on the first world map of the ocean floor; she also co-discovered the Mid-Atlantic Ridge’s rift valley. She was 86. A pioneer of modern oceanography,… »
Posted on Thursday, August 24, 2006 at 6:19 PM
Categories: Cartography, Earth Sciences, Obituaries
Caleb D. Hammond, Jr.
The New York Times reports the death on Monday of Caleb D. Hammond, Jr., who from 1948 to 1974 was president of C. S. Hammond & Company, the map publishing house founded by his grandfather. He was 90. You’ll recognize… »
Posted on Friday, June 9, 2006 at 8:14 AM
Categories: Obituaries
Walter W. Ristow
Earlier this month, MapHist subscribers learned of the passing of Walter W. Ristow, the former Chief of the Geography and Map Division of the Library of Congress. Ristow died aged 97 on April 3. Today’s Washington Post takes a look… »
Posted on Sunday, April 16, 2006 at 7:49 AM
Categories: Obituaries
Karen Wynn Fonstad
Karen Wynn Fonstad, the freelance cartographer who authored atlases of Middle-earth, Dragonlance and other fantasy worlds, died March 11 of complications from breast cancer. She was 59. This Toronto Sun article from 2002 reviews her best-known work, The Atlas of… »
Posted on Monday, April 4, 2005 at 12:25 AM
Categories: Books, Imaginary Places, Obituaries
Arthur Robinson
This past week the media reported the death of Arthur Robinson, whose eponymous projection was adopted by the National Geographic Society for its world maps. He died Oct. 10 at the age of 89. Obituaries from the Arizona Republic (reprinting… »
Posted on Saturday, November 20, 2004 at 4:51 PM
Categories: Map Projections, Obituaries
History of Cartography Project Co-Founder Dies
Last December, I reported on the massive History of Cartography Project, an expensive, comprehensive multivolume series, the first volume of which came out in 1987. The project was founded by J. B. Harley and David Woodward. Harley died in 1991…. »
Posted on Sunday, September 26, 2004 at 10:04 PM
Categories: Books, History of Cartography, Obituaries

Note: Entries from 2003 were not categorized and will not appear in the category archives. Please consult the monthly archives.