A world renowned climatologist, ever-popular professor, mentor, and long-time chairman of the Department of Geography at the University of Delaware, Dr. Mather began his studies in meteorology at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT), earning a B.S. there in 1947 and an M.S. in 1948. He followed with a Ph.D. in Geography-Climatology from Johns Hopkins University in 1951. Mather was a long-time active member of the Association of American Geographers, serving the AAG in many capacities, including as AAG President (1991-1992). He received numerous awards and recognitions from the AAG for his scholarship and contributions to the discipline.
Mather joined the Johns Hopkins University Laboratory of Climatology in 1948, after completing his Master’s degree at MIT. He worked full-time at the Laboratory until 1961, when he began teaching part-time at the University of Delaware. In 1954, the Laboratory became affiliated with the Drexel Institute of Technology in Philadelphia, later becoming the C.W. Thornthwaite Associates Laboratory of Climatology. Mather’s work at the Laboratory focused on climactic water budget, especially its uses in practical situations.
In the early 1960s, Mather accepted a full-time position as Professor of Geography at the University of Delaware. In 1966, the University established a Geography Department and appointed Mather as its Chair. He would steer the department for the next 25 years, providing training and mentorship to several generations of the leading U.S. climatologists, in one of the country’s leading PhD-granting Programs in this field. During his distinguished career, Dr. Mather authored several books on applied climatology and water resources, numerous monographs, journal articles, book chapters and books. He was one of the editors on a co-edited U.S. - Soviet volume on global change titled, Global Change: Geographical Approaches, published by the University of Arizona Press in 1991. He received the AAG’s Lifetime Achievement award in 1998 and the American Geographical Society's Charles P. Daly Medal in 1999. He was Delaware's State Climatologist for many years.
Born in Boston, Massachusetts on 9 October 1923, son of Brigadier General John Mather and wife Mabelle, Dr. Mather was husband to the late Amy N. Mather, with whom he raised three children. A few years after the unexpected loss of his first wife (after 48 years of marriage), he married geographer Sandra Pritchard Mather, member of the Geology faculty at West Chester University. Dr. Mather enjoyed many interests including watching football and spending summers on Cape Cod. Dr. Mather died on Friday, 3 January 2003 at age 79.
Sources: John “Russ” Mather (Necrology). 2003. AAG Newsletter 38 (2): 20;
“In Memoriam: John Russell Mather, 1923-2003” by Cort J. Wilmott, Sept. 2006, Annals of the Association of American Geographers, Vol. 96, No. 3, pp. 660-665.