Robert F. Austin (Bob), Ph.D., GISP, age 72, of Clearwater, Florida and Asheville, North Carolina, passed away on August 14, 2022, after sustaining critical injuries in an accident.

Bob was born on May 17, 1950, to Margaret Louise (Hammond) Austin and Robert O. Austin in Petoskey, Michigan. He graduated from Southfield High in 1968 where he lettered in basketball and tennis and then attended the University of Michigan in Ann Arbor on an academic scholarship. He earned his Bachelor of Arts and Master of Arts degrees while studying Geography and Southeast Asian Studies. He also studied conversational Thai and learned to speak it very well thanks to regular practice with a group of his students from Thailand. Upon graduation he was admitted to the doctoral program and spent a year abroad in the United Kingdom, Brunei, Malaysia, Thailand and Singapore conducting research for his dissertation. He received his Ph.D. in Geography from the University of Michigan at the age of 27.

After leaving Michigan, he continued in academia at the University of Missouri where he was an Assistant Professor and Chair of the Geography department. While at Missouri, he received a Fulbright Fellowship and spent a year lecturing and teaching at Oxford Polytechnic in England. In 1984 Bob left academia to pursue advancing technological opportunities in the private sector, and he took his first position in that arena with Chicago Aerial Survey (later Geonex). There he was like a kid in a candy shop with all the computer and photogrammetry equipment on site. He applied his past experience (he worked college summers in the field for telephone companies) with his knowledge of computer mapping and database management systems to develop large projects and training programs for telephone and other utility companies, converting their paper maps and records to digital format.

Bob then worked as a consultant in the telephone and engineering industries nationally and internationally and had long term assignments in Russia and Malaysia. He never lost his love of teaching and designed and taught training seminars as President of Austin Communications Education Services (ACES), a consulting company started by his father. Over the years, he taught courses and/or lectured at several universities including Virginia Tech, University of Tampa and Delta State. Having experienced careers in both the academic and private sectors, Bob spent his last years of employment in public service with the City of Tampa in the Department of Technology and Innovation where he was the Enterprise Applications Integration Manager.

Always excited about learning and sharing the many ways he envisioned GIS applications to benefit the world, Bob greatly enjoyed collaborating with other scholars and colleagues in several professional organizations. He was especially active with AM/FM International (later GITA) where he was a regular presenter at conferences and assumed the roles of conference Chair and President. He also had the great privilege of serving as a Member and Chair of the National Geospatial Advisory Committee which is a United States Secretary of State appointment. Bob was  dedicated to the use of geospatial science to save lives and property. In 2016 he travelled to Vietnam as a subject matter expert for UN-SPIDER (United Nations Platform for Space-based Information for Disaster Management and Emergency Response). 

In addition to his many published papers, monographs and book chapters, Bob served on the editorial board of Solstice: An Electronic Journal of Geography and Mathematics and was a regular contributor. After retiring in 2014 he continued to write and co-published a textbook on GIS for Critical Infrastructure Protection.  But Bob was more than a scholarly author. He also published The Big Cabbage: A Memoir of Life in Russia in the 1990s which highlighted many of his adventures working in Russia to set up a GIS system.  Also, at the time of his passing, he was working on a book of historical fiction set primarily in Barbados and the American colonies in the 18th century. Bob loved to research a topic and then dive in to the storytelling.  

Like most geographers, Bob had a great love of travel and was happiest when he could take his family along even when, for him, they often were working vacations. He and his wife, Michelle, accomplished their goal of visiting every continent with a trip to Antarctica in 2014. His daughters, Alexandra and Lisa, were also along for many of their excursions; whether they were digging for thunder eggs in Australia, playing with orangutans on Borneo or exploring museums in Cairo, he enthusiastically took on the role of driver, tour guide and “daddy pack mule”.  He would have loved the opportunity to travel into outer space. He jokingly complained that the  jetpack was not yet realized as a common form of transportation during his lifetime, but he delighted in taking his grandchildren to the U.S. Space and Rocket Center in Huntsville, Alabama, on their last road trip together in the summer of 2022.  

Although he was a scientist, Bob had a great appreciation of the arts and was especially passionate about music. He was a lifelong fan of the folk, blues-based and psychedelic rock music introduced in his youth, but he never stopped seeking out and discovering new sounds. Even in his later years, he and Michelle regularly attended concerts where he was often at least one generation older than the other audience members and was greatly amused when it was assumed he was related to the band. Other hobbies and subjects of interest included linguistics, archeology, oenology, cooking, science fiction and humor. He started every day reading the funnies and was everyone’s favorite partner in Trivial Pursuit. Everyone stood a much better chance of victory with Bob on the team! 

Bob was an only child but was adored by Michelle’s mother and sisters as the son and brother they never had. He loved hosting holiday gatherings and delighted everyone with his inspired cooking and humorous tales.  Christmas was not complete without Bob's signature anise beef and wontons, and Bob was the first to introduce the family to "turduken"  - a gastronomic feat - which became a staple at Thanksgiving.

He was preceded in death by both of his parents, his mother in law, Tina Poppleton, and his nephew, Andrew Schnitker. He leaves behind his wife, Michelle, daughters Alexandra Austin and Lisa Gillespie and was an adoring “PawPaw” to grandchildren Benjamin and Molly Gillespie. He will also be missed by his sisters-in-law Melinda Schnitker [Chuck], Nancy Keenan [Andy] and Carole Schrading [Walt] as well as by nephews Logan Schnitker, Noah Keenan and niece, Allison Keenan.

Plans are being developed to honor Bob’s life with a scholarship at Delta State University that focuses on training veterans for employment in the GIS industry. 

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