Obituary: Peter Gerhard (1920-2006)

Famed independent researcher and historical geographer, Peter Gerhard passed away in his home in Fayence, France on 15 February 2006, following a brief illness. A graduate student at the University of California, Berkeley prior to World War II, Gerhard was strongly influenced by such scholars as Carl O. Sauer and Herbert E. Bolton. Although his career did not include academe, Gerhard continued his interest in history and geography through a lifetime of extensive research and publication. His residence in Baja California after World War II resulted in publication of the Lower California Guidebook with Howard E. Gulick, the standard for travel in the peninsula from 1956 to 1980, and that went through seven editions. Articles in The Pacific Historical Review treated such Baja California topics as the Socialist Revolution of 1911, the end of the Dominican Missions, and colonial pearl fishing. His interest in the Pacific coast resulted in a study of a Dutch trade mission in New Spain and his classic study, Pirates on the West Coast of New Spain, 1575-1742, first published in 1960, is still in print.

As an historical geographer, following publication of several articles treating colonial demographics and geographic descriptions in Historia Mexicana and other journals, Gerhard began production of his definitive, multi-volume work exploring the historical geographies of New Spain: A Guide to the Historical Geography of New Spain (1972), The Southeast Frontier of New Spain (1979), and The North Frontier of New Spain (1982). All three remain in print in second editions (University of Oklahoma Press) and in Spanish (Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México). Gerhard subsequently produced Síntesis e índice de los mandamientos virreinales, 1548-1553 (1992) and following his retirement to Fayence, "Peregrinations of the Baja California Mission Records" (1995), with the undersigned.

Along with his productive scholarship, Peter enjoyed an active business career and a wide number of friends throughout the Americas and Europe. His cheerful countenance and precise scholarship shall be greatly missed.