Obituary of Allan Rodgers

Allan Rodgers, Emeritus Professor of Geography at The Pennsylvania State University died on Tuesday, April 19, 2011. He was born in New York in 1922 and received a B.S. degree in Economics from the City College of New York, graduating Cum Laude with Honors in the Social Sciences. During World War II, he served as Lieutenant in the U.S. Navy for three and a half years on a Destroyer Escort (Atlantic Theatre). He received an M.A. and the Ph.D. in Geography at the University of Wisconsin in 1950. Dr. Rodgers taught at Penn State for 38 years and served as Department Head from 1963- 1970. Among his awards, he received a Research Grant from the Office of Naval Research (1955-8) for work on the Industrial port of Genoa, Italy; a Guggenheim Fellowship and two Fulbright Grants (1960-1) for research on southern Italy; a Grant in 1957 and 1960 for research on the USSR from the Inter-University Committee on Travel Grants; a number of research grants from the Social Science Research Council, the National Science Foundation and the HEW for research on the USSR. In addition, he received a Visiting Professor Award for several lectures at the University of Rome. Dr. Rodgers was a member of a special delegation to China in the 1980's after President Nixon's trip to that country. The Penn State group included the President of the University and several Deans as well as Dr. Rodgers. It was the first group to enter China and several weeks were spent as invited guests. Among his publications, Dr. Rodgers' work include Economic Development in Retrospect(1979); The Industrial Port of Genoa(1960); and over 25 articles appearing in several issues of The Annals of the Association of American Geographers; Economic Geography; The Geographical Review; Essays in Geography and Economic Development; The China Geographer; Industrial Change; and several foreign journals. His professional services include: Head, Symposia Committee of the AAG; Consultant to the National Science Foundation; Consultant to the U.S. Council of Graduate Schools. Dr. Rodgers also served on the writing staff of The Columbia Encyclopedia. During his retirement Dr. Rodgers gave ten invited lectures in several universities of The Peoples Republic of China. In addition to his love for travel, he was an avid gourmet. He is survived by his wife, Audrey, his son, Peter, his two grandchildren, Adam and Emma. A Memorial service in Dr. Rodgers' honor will be held on May 1, 2011 at the Eisenhower Chapel on the Penn State campus at 11:00 am. In lieu of flowers, donations will be gratefully received for the Allan Rodgers Fund, Department of Geography, Old Main, Pennsylvania State University, University Park, PA 16802. Burial will be private. Friends will be received at the Rodgers home (2358 Harvest Ridge Drive, Chestnut Ridge Manor) directly after the Memorial.