McKnight, Tom L. (1928–2004)

Tom Lee McKnight was an influential geographer, educator, and college textbook author. In a professional teaching career that spanned nearly 40 years, he wrote widely adopted textbooks on physical and regional geography and worked with college and K–12 teachers across the United States to expand and improve geography education.

McKnight was born in Dallas, Texas, on October 8, 1928. He was introduced to geography by Edwin J. Foscue at Southern Methodist University, where he graduated with a bachelor's degree in geology and a minor in geography in 1949. He finished his master's degree in geography at the University of Colorado in 1951 and his PhD in geography at the University of Wisconsin in 1955. In 1956, McKnight was hired by the Department of Geography at the ...