Dr. Clarence W. Minkel

MINKEL, CLARENCE W., PH.D. - age 86, of Knoxville, passed away on Monday, September 22, 2014. Dr. Minkel was born to a farming family in Austin, Minnesota, on February 9, 1928. After high school, he served in the U.S. Army in the U.S. and Japan. He then went on to earn his Ph.D. from Syracuse University. In his career, he ultimately rose to become a world renowned academician and geographer. He had retired as dean of the Graduate School at the University of Tennessee, Knoxville. Dr. Minkel had lived in Guatemala, Brazil, Venezuela, Colombia, Japan, and Indonesia. He traveled to every country in North, Central, and South America, China, Japan, Indonesia, and South Asia, Western and Southern Europe, Australia and New Zealand, thirty African countries, and Antarctica. Over a 50 year span, he visited every county in the United States, including Alaska and Hawaii. In addition to his intellectual insights, he also had a great sense of humor, a subtle wit. When the family traveled by car, he never took a freeway, and he educated them as to what they were seeing in land forms, bodies of water, and more. He was a physical fitness role model for them, always traveling with a jump rope and remarkably never missing one day of jumping, whether in a jungle or in a city, over the course of 35 years. Dr. Minkel is survived by his loving and proud family, including his wife, Phyllis; his five children, Thomas Minkel (Jackie), Sandra Topper (Jim), Theresa Giroux (Tom), Lorraine Ware (Phil), and Joanna Hogan (Dennis); twelve grandchildren and three great grandchildren; his former wife, Jeanette; and his brother, Leonard. He will be fondly remembered by many dear friends, colleagues, and fellow geographers. Dr. Minkel will be interred in East Lansing, Michigan. A memorial service will be held on Tuesday at 5:00 p.m. at Rose Mortuary Mann Heritage Chapel. The family will receive friends prior to the service on Tuesday from 4:00 - 5:00 p.m. In lieu of flowers, memorials may be made in Dr. Minkel's name to the Lori Mayor Re-Entry Women's Graduate Fellowship, attn: Dr. Joy T. DeSensi, UT Graduate School, 111 Student Services Building, Knoxville, TN 37996-0211. Local arrangements by Rose Mortuary Mann Heritage Chapel. Online condolences may be made at www.rosemortuary.com. -

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Dr. Clarence W. Minkel

February 2, 1928 - September 22, 2014