Doug was born April 12, 1923, in Hoylake, Cheshire, England. His father, who worked in the cotton business, moved the family to Houston, Texas, where Doug grew up with a brother and two sisters.
He attended primary school in Houston and secondary school in Concord, Mass., before Princeton. Enlisting in the Navy in 1943, he served on a destroyer-minelayer in the Pacific. After his discharge in 1946, he worked for 15 years for a steamship company. While assigned in Memphis, he met and in 1954 married Mary Vinton.
Doug gave up the steamship business to pursue an academic career, earning a doctorate in 1965 and subsequently teaching transportation geography for 27 years at the University of Washington. He served a term as president of the Association of Washington Geographers, wrote many articles for professional journals, and served on editorial boards. He was on the board of directors of Seattle Trust & Savings Bank for 17 years, and was a former board member of six schools and business organizations.
Mary died just nine days before Doug’s own death on Feb. 25, 2010. He is survived by his daughter, Florence; sons Bill, Doug Jr., and Charlie; two grandsons; and two granddaughters.