Douglas K. Fleming ’44

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.