Richard H. Jordan, an internationally known Arctic archaeologist and Professor of Anthropology at the University of Alaska-Fairbanks, died of a heart attack at his home in Fairbanks on January 19, 1991. Alaska was Dick's birthplace and spiritual home. He graduated from high school near Scranton, Penn., and joined us after a year as an exchange student in Holland.
Dick earned his doctorate at the University of Minnesota. A pre-doctoral stint with Bill Fitzhugh '65, director of the Arctic Studies Center, was the beginning of a 20-year association with the Smithsonian. Bill notes that Dick was a "major leader in Arctic archeology."
In 1974 Dick joined the faculty at Bryn Mawr, where became chair of the anthropology department. His field work and professional travels took him to Greenland, Labrador, Russia, Japan, and Alaska.
He returned to Alaska as chair of the anthropology department in the summer of 1988. At the time of his death, he was working on the findings from his major work, an extraordinary site at Karluk Lagoon on Kodiak Island.
In addition to his wife, Colleen Lazenby, and their daughter, Dick leaves his mother, two sons from an earlier marriage, and a sister.
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