Harm J. de Blij (see IJ (digraph); closest pronunciation: "duh blay") (October 9, 1935 – March 25, 2014) was a Dutch-American geographer. He was a geography editor on ABC's Good Morning America and an editor of National Geographic magazine and the author of several books, including Why Geography Matters.

Education and career

De Blij was born in Schiedam, the Netherlands, and received his early schooling in Europe. He received his B.Sc. from the University of the Witwatersrand in South Africa in 1955, and his M.A. in 1957 and Ph.D. in 1959 in the United States from Northwestern University. He published more than 30 books and over 100 articles and has received five honorary degrees. Several of his books have been translated into foreign languages. He was the editor of Oxford's Atlas of North America. A native of the Netherlands, he was a professor of geography and viticulture at Michigan State University and the University of Miami and a visiting professor at the Colorado School of Mines. Dr. de Blij was a Distinguished Professor of Geography at Michigan State University. He held the George Landegger Chair in Georgetown University's school of Foreign Service and the John Deaver Drinko chair of geography at Marshall University; he also taught at the Colorado School of Mines and the University of Miami.

Recognitions