14 In Memoriam Jerry Croft (OSU Faculty Member 1966 -1991) Jerry Croft, Oklahoma State University Professor Emeritus of Cultural Geography, died on November 19, 2023, in Iowa City, Iowa, surrounded by his family and in peace, after battling chronic lymphocytic leukemia and a variety of complications for 25 years. A native of southern Kansas, Jerry’s fascination with the local environment began to expand when his mother gave him a set of encyclopedias. A first-generation college student, Jerry graduated from Oklahoma State University in 1962 with a BA in Geography. He continued with a master’s degree in in geography at Kansas State, the first student there to earn a Master of Arts in the field. In 1966, he began his career at Oklahoma State, where he encouraged thousands of students to gain an understanding and appreciation of an endlessly fascinating world. He chose to earn his Ed.D. from the University of Tulsa in education, wanting to understand the most effective ways to make a difference for those enrolled in his classes. In 1974, Jerry was able to take sabbatical leave at Macalester College in St. Paul, Minnesota. He felt the opportunity provided him with inspiration from geographers he esteemed, participating in programs with the University of Minnesota Department of Geography. As well, he was able to play center in their winning intramural basketball team, something he continued with “noon time” basketball throughout his career at OSU. Jerry was dedicated to geographic education, developing strategies for teaching that engaged his students. He used a thematic approach to his teaching, facilitating student research in spatial analysis, place analysis, and the interaction of humans and the environment; he was involved in the development of the landmark national geography standards in the 1990s, Geography for Life. Using John Denver’s music, poetry from Dan George, a chief of the Tsleil-Waututh Nation in British Columbia, and the paintings of Frederic Remington, Charles Russell, and Alexandre Hogue in a unit entitled “How Fine Arts Can Tell Environmental Stories,” Jerry introduced greater geographic and environmental understanding in his Introduction to Cultural Geography class. He also taught the Geography of Europe, and the Geography of the US and Canada. Toward the end of his career, he received a grant from the Canadian government to visit the Maritime provinces. Believing that field trips were an integral part of learning, he took students to Lindsborg, Kansas, to better understand Sweden and Swedish immigrants, and he introduced students to Dr. Angie Debo at her modest home in Marshall, Oklahoma, to learn more about her decades of research about the state. By the end of his career at OSU, he was meeting students whose parents had also taken his classes. When he retired at the age of 51, he became one of the youngest Professors Emeriti in the history of Oklahoma State. Jerry continued his association with OSU by establishing the Jerry Croft and Family Award for an undergraduate or graduate student in the Department of Geography or Secondary Social Studies Education. Over the last several years, he also taught some of his favorite interests through the Osher Lifelong Learning Institute (OLLI), a ‘senior college’ opportunity for those at least 50 and older.
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