Clifford Tiedemann

Clifford Tiedemann died Sunday June 23 after a short illness. 

He and Margaret (Forbes) Tiedemann were married for 63 years. They shared a lifetime of adventures from their early, itinerant years living in Norman, Oklahoma, East Lansing, MI, and Los Angeles, CA. In each location, they made friends who were remembered fondly to the end. They raised children, Erica and Lance, in Mt. Prospect, IL and retired there as well. After retirement, Cliff and Marge embarked on continent-spanning travels to Africa, Australia, Europe, South America, and Florida-Panama-Alaska with good friends Bonnie and Jim Foster and Jean and Clyde Dawson. In the last several years, they continued to spend the warm part of the year mainly in southwest Michigan enjoying newspapers on the porch, wildlife in the yard, farm-fresh produce, and visits from friends and family.

Cliff taught Geography, “the science of resource utilization,” for 32 years at the University of Illinois Chicago. He was an early adopter of computer-based geographic information systems and his professional involvement with computers ran from mainframe to PC. In the 1970’s he served as chair of the UIC Campus Computer Policy Committee. During at least one summer, he reserved time on the Urbana campus’ Cray supercomputer and would drive 2 ½ hours to use it. He retired with his campus’ IBM 370 model 158 on the eve of Y2K and continued to run Chicago Public Schools enrollment projections for several more years on his PC at home. 

His teaching and research incorporated statistics, computer programming, remote sensing and economics. He collaborated with Public Health, Urban Planning, the James Woodworth Prairie Preserve, Chicago Public Schools (enrollment projections), and Motorola (basic geography for cell phone engineers) among others. His students remember him as a fun, engaging, and approachable professor who started his courses by requiring them to set up a university computer account. Friend and office suitemate, Dave Merrill, recalls that former students often visited him seeking career advice, counsel, or just to touch base with a professor who had inspired them.

Cliff was a beneficiary of and a contributor to the United States’ monumental achievement in public education: BA 1960 University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign, MS 1963 Oklahoma State University, PhD 1966 Michigan State University. From 1965-67 he taught at UCLA. From 1967- 99 he taught at the University of Illinois Chicago. He put in 10 years as head of UIC’s geography department, and he spent a lot of time computing.

Born to Anita Freie Tiedemann and Arthur Theodore Tiedemann on 6/30/1938, Cliff was raised by his mother in Franklin Park, IL and attended Leyden Community High School. 

He is survived by his wife, Margaret F Tiedemann, children Erica (William Way) and Lance Tiedemann, grandchildren Delphine and Theodore Way, niece and nephew JoAnn and Norman (Mary Buckett) Tiedemann, and great nieces Kelly and Daniela (Theodoros Kalfas) Tiedemann. 

Cliff was preceded in death by his mother, his father, his brother and sister-in-law Arthur “Art” (Ruth Stoerker) Tiedemann of Madison, WI, and great niece Natalie Tiedemann. Cliff would have wanted the record to show that he was forever grateful to his sister-in-law, Ruth, for her warm welcome in 1968 and her generous support for the ongoing relationship between the families of Art and Cliff Tiedemann.

In lieu of sending flowers, please consider a donation to the University of Illinois Chicago student scholarship fund in memory of Clifford E Tiedemann. “UIC Student Scholarships” can be found under the heading “Scholarship Funds” on the UIC giving page. https://give.uic.edu/