Condolences for the 11st September 2001 attack to New York

Bernard Brown, age ll, student at Leckie Elementary School in Washington, DC. Bernard was a passenger on American Airlines Flight 77 from Dulles International Airport to Los Angeles that was crashed into the Pentagon. He was traveling to a four-day National Geographic Society field workshop in the Channel Island National Marine Sanctuary off Santa Barbara, California with teacher Hilda Taylor.

Sarah Clark, age 62, teacher at Backus Middle School in Washington, DC, American Airlines 77 passenger en route to the National Geographic Society workshop with student Asia Cottom.

Asia Cottom, age 11, student at Backus Middle School in Washington, DC., a passenger on American Airlines flight 77 traveling to the National Geographic Society workshop.

James Debeuneure, age 58, teacher at Ketcham Elementary School in Washington, DC., going to the National Geographic Society workshop with student Rodney Dickens.

Rodney Dickens, age 11, student at Ketcham Elementary School in Washington, DC. Rodney was a passenger on American Airlines 77 traveling to the National Geographic Society workshop.

James Joseph Ferguson, age 39, Geography Education Division, National Geographic Society in Washington DC. A geography graduate of Ohio University, Joe had recently been appointed one of the Society’s representatives on the Geography Education National Implementation Project (GENIP), an umbrella organization that embraces the four major geography organizations in the United States. He was escorting the students and teachers to a National Geographic sponsored field workshop involving students, teachers, and scientist Sylvia Earle at the time of his death..

Ann Judge, National Geographic Society Travel Coordinator, a passenger on American flight 77. She often accompanied student and educational groups sponsored by the Society, as she was doing Tuesday. National Geographic Society President and Chief Executive Officer John Fahey noted yesterday: In many ways, the trip that Ann Judge and Joe Ferguson were leading was the essence of the Geographic mission. They were escorting three teachers and three students from the Washington area to California to hook up with other participants in a marine biology field event in the Channel Islands, as part of our Sustainable Seas program. Through our educational outreach program, Ann and Joe were going to make geography and the environment come alive for these committed, talented teachers and their star students by putting them into the field with scientists and researchers. It’s hard to believe that something created with such care and commitment to serve a noble purpose could end so tragically. Certainly, the D.C. School District has lost six extraordinary people. And we at the Society have lost two treasured colleagues.

Robert G. LeBlanc, age 70, Professor Emeritus of Geography at the University of New Hampshire was a passenger on United Airlines 175, the plane that was hijacked en route from Boston to Los Angeles and crashed into the South Tower of the World Trade Center. LeBlanc earned a bachelor’s degree at the University of New Hampshire and a doctorate at the University of Minnesota. He began teaching at the University of New Hampshire in 1963 and retired in 1999. Before and after his retirement, he regularly attended meetings of regional, national, and international geographical organizations in the United States, Canada, and abroad. On Tuesday he was on his way to attend the annual meeting of the Association of Pacific Coast Geographers (the Pacific Coast Division of the Association of American Geographers) in Santa Barbara, California.

Hilda Taylor, teacher at Leckie Elementary School, Washington, DC. She was accompanying Bernard Brown to the National Geographic Society workshop.