James Richard Anderson, 1919-1980

Southeastern Geographer Vol. 21, No. 1, May 1981, pp. 1-9 JAMES RICHARD ANDERSON, 1919-1980 Morton D. Winsberg The untimely death of James Anderson on December 24, 1980 in Reston, Virginia at the age of 61 concluded a distinguished geographical career of 34 years. His life was mute testimony to the simple virtues acquired from a childhood in rural Indiana. A warm and open person, he greatly enjoyed conversation, especially about geography. He was generous of time both with his professional peers as well as his students. Field trips with him were enhanced by his profound knowledge of the rural landscape and a sensitivity to it acquired in his youth. His loyalty to his students was great, as theirs was to him, and he would go to great length to help them while in school or later. In his lifetime he held many elected and appointed offices in the Association of American Geographers and its Southeastern Division. At the time of his death he was vice president of the national association and the nominee for its presidency. Previously he had been elected to a three-year term as a national Councilor at Large. At various times he held chairmanships of the Association's Commission on Geographical Applications of Remote Sensing, Panel on Geography in Two-Year Colleges , and Publications Committee. He was president of the Southeastern Division from 1965 until 1967, and later was elected to its Executive Dr. Winsberg is Professor of Geography at The Florida State University in Tallahassee, FL 32306. Southeastern Geographer Council. He was the Division's elected representative on the National Council from 1970 through 1972, and from 1964 to 1975 he served on the Editorial Board of the Southeastern Geographer. In 1971 he was made an Honorary Life Member of the Southeastern Division. He was one of the moving forces in the establishment of the Florida Society of Geographers, and held a term on its Executive Board. At various times in his career he had committee assignments with the National Academy of Sciences, Resources for the Future, and the International Geographical Union. His close relationship with officials throughout the Federal government was of invaluable benefit to geography, and when asked he brought many academic geographers into contact with them. He did not delegate responsibility easily, as a result he spent an incalculable amount of time on details as he sought to help others. In his capacity as Chief Geographer of the United States Geological Survey he interceded effectively with several university administrations on behalf of departments of geography whose survival had been threatened. Yet, he found sufficient time to make important contributions to academic geography, both in research and as an educator. Furthermore, he was a family man. His wife of 35 years survives him, as do four children and a grandson. Born on November 20, 1919 in Whitaker, Morgan County, Indiana, he earned a B.S. degree in history with distinction from Indiana University in 1941. After naval service in the Pacific during World War II he returned to Indiana and in 1947 took an A.B. degree with honors in geography, while at the same time earning an M.A. degree in that field. Doing work to complete the A.B. permitted him election to Phi Beta Kappa. While at Indiana, under the influence of men such as W. D. Thornbury and C. W. Thornthwaite, his interest in agricultural geography began to focus. They and S. S. Visher encouraged him to go to the University of Maryland to study under O. E. Baker. Although Professor Baker died while Anderson was in the process of completing his dissertation, there had been sufficient exposure to the teaching and research of that distinguished geographer to set the course of much of his future work. After receiving his Ph.D. degree in 1950, he worked for two years as an assistant professor in the Department of Geography at Maryland and then joined the Department of Agriculture as an agricultural economist, within the same branch in which his mentor, Baker, had been employed before he became chairman of the Department of Geography at Maryland. While with the Department of Agriculture he Vol. XXI, No. 1 had...