PHOTOGRAMMETRIC ENGINEERING & REMOTE SENSING
April 2015
275
In Memoriam
J
im
M
erchant
1947-2015
James “Jim” W. Merchant, Jr., professor of geography, died
February 27, 2015. He was 67-years old. Among his survivors
are wife, Loyola Caron; son, Karl; daughter, Anne; siblings, Rob
Merchant, Wes Merchant, Betsy Phelps, Cathy Franklin; and
eight nieces and nephews.
“Jim loved UNL and the School of Natural Resources,” said
SNR director John Carroll. “But more importantly, he loved
geography and teaching students. When he was getting sick,
the thing he was most concerned about were the students in his
courses. We have lost a colleague, friend and true academic.”
Born Nov. 10, 1947, to James W. and Emely (Wilson)
Merchant, Sr., Merchant was a graduate of Towson State
University in Towson, Maryland and the University of Kansas
in Lawrence, Kansas, earning undergraduate, graduate and
doctoral degrees, respectively.
He began his career as a senior remote sensing specialist with
the Kansas Applied Remote Sensing Program at the University
of Kansas Space Technology Center. He went on to serve as an
assistant professor of geography at the University of Kansas
from 1986 to 1989.
In 1989, Merchant moved from Kansas to Nebraska to accept
a position as associate director of UNL’s Center for Advanced
Land Management Information Technologies (CALMIT). The
addition of Merchant to the CALMIT team greatly enhanced and
broadened the scope of the center’s activities. His research in this
position focused on land-cover mapping with coarse-resolution
satellite data. He went on to serve as director of CALMIT from
2008 to 2011.
In addition to his appointments as a geography professor in
SNR and as a research scientist in CALMIT, he held a cour-
tesy professor appointment in the Department of Agronomy
and Horticulture, and from 2001-2008 served as the Editor
of
PE&RS
, the official journal of the American Society for
Photogrammetry and Remote Sensing.
“Jim was thoughtful and articulate in his communications
with other scholars and managers, and he worked to stay
connected – everyone knew JimMerchant,” said Don Rundquist,
emeritus professor and former CALMIT director. “Jim had
exceptional skill in dealing with the staff of governmental
agencies and he definitely knew how to get things done. He
was a major player in the widespread implementation of GIS
technology in the state of Nebraska.”
Merchant’s research and teaching interests focused on
applications of remote sensing and GIS in natural resources
management and environmental assessment. He taught under-
graduate and graduate courses in these areas, and also offered
an annual professional seminar focusing on research methods
and professional development in geography.
Merchant was a member of the Association of American
Geographers, an elected fellow of the American Society for
Photogrammetry and Remote Sensing, and co-founder of the
MidAmerica GIS Consortium. Some of his awards include: John
Wesley Powell Award from the U.S. Geological Survey (1997),
Outstanding Contributions Award from the Nebraska GIS/
LIS Association (1999), Career Achievements Award from the
MidAmerica GIS Consortium (2004), and Outstanding Service
Award from the American Society for Photogrammetry and
Remote Sensing (2008).
“Jim was a consummate citizen of both the School of Natural
Resources and the geography program at UNL,” said Paul
Hanson, SNR associate director. “He readily volunteered to serve
the unit and within the last several weeks was writing portions
of SNR’s current Academic Program Review document even
though he was months away from his June 2015 retirement. On
a more personal note, Jim frequently provided me with advice,
particularly in the past year and a half, much of which helped
me tremendously in my career. Jim will be greatly missed by
those in SNR.”
Photo courtesy of University of Nebraska-Lincoln School of Natural
Resources
