Robert Waldemar Peplies

Robert Peplies- Johnson City, TN

Robert Waldemar Peplies passed on March 8, 2018, in Johnson City, TN, after a lengthy struggle with the aftermath of a devastating stroke in 2005. 

He is survived by his wife, Anne Brading, and children Mark Frederick and Barbara

Lynn (Chaffins). His son, Robert Christopher, died in 2007.  He is also survived by three step-children, Carolyn Dowd (Clif), Stephen Dowd (Diane), and Edith Dowd.  He also had two grandchildren, Becky Ragen and Cassandra Dowd.

He was born in Chicago, IL, to German immigrants Julius and Irma Peplies.  After graduating from Chicago Public Schools, Bob joined the Army for four years, where he spent one year in Alaska.  After his time in the Army, he went to college at Northern Illinois University, and then to the University of Georgia where he obtained his Masters and Ph.D. degrees in Geography. 

He taught Geography at East Tennessee State University for over 40 years and served as a chairman for a good part of those years.

Bob Peplies was a pioneer in many ways, but in one area of geographic research, he was one of only a few individuals to develop a field of research known as "multispectral remote sensing" that, to this day, is extremely valuable to the environmental and social sciences community around the world. He was director of a new research program that was developed at ETSU, one of only two other universities in the country, the program was started in the early 1960’s and was funded by the Geographic Applications Program of the Office of Naval Research, and later by NASA and the US Air Force Office of Research. This ETSU research program was also one of the earliest examples of a truly "multidisciplinary" research effort because Bob chose to include a variety of ETSU faculty in the effort including people in physics, geology, sociology, history, and chemistry departments, to name a few. For many years, in the late 1960’s and early 1970’s, people from all over the world would come to ETSU to learn about its remote sensing research program. As a result of Bob's efforts, he was chosen to become the Executive Director of the US Geological Survey Geographic Applications Program for Remote Sensing that set up new curriculum at a variety of universities across the US. 

He was also a consultant for Oak Ridge National Laboratories (ORNL) and headed the Abandoned Mines Study which involved a number of students.  He and several colleagues traveled to many areas in the Middle East and Africa for ORNL.  Bob also traveled to former East Germany several times and was instrumental in fostering a relationship with Rostock University, and a Sister City relationship with Teterow, East Germany.  He began an International Scholarly group dedicated to Heinrich von Thunen, an economist who developed the Law of Natural Wage, with members from the US, East and West Germany, France, and Japan.

He was a scholar, raconteur, and all around good guy who enjoyed people and a daily single-malt Scotch.

A celebration of Bob Peplies’ life will be held at 1115 Ridgecrest Road in Johnson City, TN on Saturday, March 24, 2018, from 4:00 pm-7:00 pm.

Condolences may be sent to the family on the funeral home’s website, www.snydersfuneralhome.com.

The staff of Snyder’s Memorial Gardens is honored to serve the family of Mr. Robert Peplies.

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