Obituary / Notice necrologique

J. Brian Bird 1923–2011

Brian Bird was born in Birmingham, England in1923 and died on 20 August 2011, at the ageof 87. He studied at Cambridge University, inter-rupting his education to serve as Captain in theRoyal Marines from 1942 to 1945 before com-pleting his BA in geography in 1947 and Mastersin 1949. He moved to Canada in 1947, first asa lecturer at the University of Toronto and thenas an assistant professor of geography at McGillUniversity in 1950. He was promoted to associatein 1954 and full professor in 1961.

As a geomorphologist, Bird’s first project wasan examination of fjord features in Iceland. InCanada, he conducted field campaigns in the Arc-tic, starting in 1947 in Keewatin and northwestHudson Bay, then later on Southampton Island,Bathurst Inlet, the Mackenzie Basin, and BaffinIsland. These studies involved the mapping oflandforms and surficial sediments, and their in-terpretation in terms of the Wisconsin Lauren-tide Ice Sheet and Holocene crustal recovery.The research generated numerous papers, mono-graphs, reports, and a book, The physiography of

Arctic Canada (Johns Hopkins Press, 1967). Hisinterests in landscapes extended from the East-ern Townships of Quebec across Canada and re-sulted in The natural landscapes of Canada: Astudy in regional earth science (2nd ed., Wiley,1980).

His interest in the relationships between hu-mans and their natural environments is ap-parent in an article on settlement patterns inMaritime Canada from 1687 to 1786 (Geograph-ical Review 45: 385–404). In association withMcGill’s Bellairs Research Institute, he conductedresearch on beach dynamics in Barbados and ad-vised the Barbadian government on the conserva-tion and restoration of the island’s shores, wherecoral reefs and sand beaches were threatened bysewage pollution by tourists.

In the 1950s and 1960s, Bird was one of agroup of faculty responsible for forging the veryhigh reputation of McGill’s Department of Geog-raphy. He taught physical geography and super-vised 35 master’s and doctoral theses. He servedas chair from 1967 to 1974 and 1980 to 1987.Out of the uncomfortable agitations of 1968—both internal and university-wide—came a de-partmental structure with exceptional student in-volvement in decision-making.

During this time, Brian was also involvedwith the McGill Geography Department SummerSchool based at Stanstead College, Quebec. Theschool trained, and indeed inspired, secondaryschool teachers from across the country, andcontributed to curricula in the Quebec schools.The summer school provided a family feeling forthe first generation of McGill geographers. Brian’sfondness for the region grew from this expe-rience of intimacy with local communities andlandscapes.

Bird played a key role in the developmentof the discipline of geography across Canadaand the development of research in the north.He initially found research funds in the earlyyears from the RAND Corporation, the US Of-fice of Naval Research, the Iron Ore Com-pany, and construction engineers, all of whomwere interested in the extent and behaviour of

The Canadian Geographer / Le Geographe canadien 2012, 56(1): 140–141

DOI: 10.1111/j.1541-0064.2011.00403.xC© Canadian Association of Geographers / L’Association canadienne des geographes

Obituary / Notice necrologique 141

permafrost. His academic research extendedmuch more widely and subsequently received lo-gistical support from the Royal Canadian AirForce, as well as the Canadian Geological Sur-vey, National Research Council (NRC), and Nat-ural Sciences and Engineering Research Councilof Canada (NSERC). He was instrumental in es-tablishing a network of field stations of endur-ing importance on Axel Heiberg Island in thearctic, at subarctic Schefferville, Quebec, and intropical Barbados. Although the Canadian grant-ing agencies have never recognized the need forlong-range funding, the records of these field sta-tions constitute some of the finest examples inthe country of long-term ecological research.

Brian Bird was a founding member of theCanadian Association of Geographers. He waspresent at the inaugural meeting in the AdamsBuilding at McGill in 1951, he served as Presi-dent from 1958 to 1959, and as a member of theeditorial committee of the Canadian Geographerfrom 1957 to 1963. In 1986, he was honouredwith its Award for Service to the Profession ofGeography. He was one of the most active orga-

nizers of the International Geographical Congressheld in Montreal in 1972 and served on numer-ous Canadian and international commissions.

Bird was a strong, rugged character who pro-vided clear leadership, was caring and supportiveof his colleagues, and firmly nurtured the devel-opment of geography and McGill University.

In 1974, he and his wife purchased a coun-try home in Fitch Bay and he spent much ofhis time there enjoying vegetable gardening andhe passed away there. In much of his earlyfieldwork, he was accompanied by his late wifeBeryl. The McGill archives hold virtually no pho-tographs of Brian, but innumerable sketch maps,airphotos, thrice-corrected typescripts, and pen-cilled lists of the season’s provisions of oat-meal and raisins and cocoa, and of the fieldequipment—lantern and sextant and stove—thatnow seem like museum pieces. We express ourdeep condolences to their children, Colin, Neil,and Joanne.

TIM MOORE

McGill University

The Canadian Geographer / Le Geographe canadien 2012, 56(1): 140–141