Richard Lovejoy Tuthill

DAVIDSON, N.C. -- Professor Richard L. Tuthill died March 17, 2011, at the Pines at Davidson. He was born April 29, 1911, in Suffern, N.Y., the oldest of three sons of Cora Hazel (Lovejoy) and Orin Newton Tuthill.

He was preceded in death by his first wife, Sylvia Faye Bickford Tuthill, of Augusta, Maine, in 1973. Together they had two daughters, Rhoda Faye Tuthill Rankin and Marcia Jean Tuthill Butterfield, both of Lexington, Ky. He and Faye enjoyed their summers on Lake Cobbossee and attended the Community Church of Manchester. Professor Tuthill also was preceded in death in 2010 by his second wife, Sandra McWhorter Tuthill of Durham, and his two younger brothers, Newton and Erwin Tuthill.

Professor Tuthill graduated from Bates College in Lewiston, Maine, with a B.A. in English, and from Columbia University in New York City with an Ed.D. in geography. During his graduate training, he was recruited by the founder of the OSS to help in the war effort during World War II because of his outstanding knowledge of the Pacific Islands and Japan. Following his studies at Bates, Professor Tuthill worked at Pan American Airways, designing air routes that are still in use today, including the New York-to-Johannesburg, South Africa, route. After completing his graduate degree at Columbia, Dr. Tuthill started his long academic career in the Department of Geography at the University of Kentucky in 1946, rising to full professor and becoming the University's first registrar. In 1953, Dr. Tuthill moved to Duke University to become professor of economic geography and Duke University's first registrar. His teaching and research specialized in the economic geography of Canada, Africa, the Soviet Union and the Pacific Rim. He retired from Duke University in 1977.

Professor Tuthill was well known in the Durham community as a Sunday school teacher at First Presbyterian Church and later of the George Watts Sunday School Class of Trinity Avenue Presbyterian Church, teaching regularly into his 90s. He was active in Crime Stoppers and the Rotary Club of Durham. Professor Tuthill was an inspiring and beloved university teacher, many of his students becoming lifelong friends.

In addition to his two daughters and their husbands, William Rankin and Professor Allan Butterfield, of Lexington, Ky., Professor Tuthill is survived by four grandchildren: Shirley Anne Ballantyne and husband Robert Anthony Federici of Mill Spring; Robert Bruce Ballantyne and wife Pamela of Youngsville, La.; David Hamilton Ballantyne and wife Michelle of Kannapolis; and Nyasha Esther Butterfield Grennan and husband Christopher Grennan of Mooresville; and by his great-grandchildren: Jocelyn Marie Brooks Stacy; Christa Elizabeth Brooks; Richard Blake and Kayla Ballantyne; Jessica, Samantha, and Kelsie Ballantyne; Quentin Wyatt, Emmaline Faye, and Lillian Grace Grennan. Also, Professor Tuthill is survived by several nieces and nephews from throughout the United States.

A memorial service will be held April 30 at Trinity Avenue Presbyterian Church at 11 a.m.

In lieu of flowers, memorial gifts may be sent in the name of Professor Richard L.Tuthill to the George Watts Sunday School Class of Trinity Avenue Presbyterian Church, 927 West Trinity Ave, Durham, NC 27701, or Hospice and Palliative Care Lake Norman, 705 Griffith St., Suite 203, Davidson, NC 28036.