Aubrey Diem
July 16, 2015
Retired University of Waterloo professor Aubrey Diem died on July 16, 2015. A native of Detroit, Diem joined the University of Waterloo as an associate professor in 1962 when he and a number of other professors departed Waterloo College (now Wilfrid Laurier University) to form the Faculty of Arts’s Geography department, which later joined the Faculty of Environmental Studies (now Faculty of Environment) in 1969. Diem was named a full Professor in 1967. He specialized in the geography of Western Europe, the geography of the Alps, avalanches and environmental degradation.
Published widely in academic journals, Diem also wrote a novel entitled First Rains of Autumn, a WW2-era thriller, and H is for Holocaust, a chronology and lexicon of the events leading up to the terrible events from 1933 and 1945 in Europe. Diem also wrote the first guidebook for the Bruce Trail, the popular hiking trail that follows the length of the Niagara Escarpment.
Diem retired in September 1996 under the Special Early Retirement Program (SERP). He moved to Zinal, a small village in the mountains of Canton Valais, Switzerland.
Aubrey Diem, born in 1931 and raised in Detroit, Michigan, USA, moved with his young family to Canada in 1960, where he taught geography at the University of Waterloo, Ontario, and was a driving force in establishing the new Faculty of Environmental Studies there. In 1967, he was appointed full professor and eventually even took Canadian citizenship. In addition to his numerous publications in scientific journals, Diem also wrote a novel and several non-fiction books.
Even as a child, Diem loved to travel – and he never stopped doing so throughout his life. There is almost no country in Europe that he did not explore with his 35 mm camera in the 50s and 60s. His view of landscapes, cities and the way of life of the people and the resulting pictures show his deep understanding of the inner connections of history and place, coupled with an explicit sense of the diversity and beauty of life.
In 1968, he came to Switzerland in search of a new and free home. He found it in Zinal, a small village in the Valais mountains, which became more and more the permanent base of his multifaceted activities. This is also how the collaboration with the Swiss agency Keystone-SDA came about, which now, beyond Aubrey Diem’s death in July 2015, manages large slide holdings of his analogue photographic estate. Out of this responsibility, we have started an internal digitisation project under the direction of Eric Schumacher, who also got to know and appreciate Diem personally during the years of collaboration. We are pleased to present the first results of this work here, and so we wish you, in a deeper understanding of Aubrey Diem: Have a nice trip!
In 1960, Aubrey Diem left his native Detroit, Michigan in the U.S. to move to Canada, where he taught Geography at the University of Waterloo, Ontario, and later became a Canadian citizen. He loved to travel, and saw much of the world multiple times. Through his journeys and love of history, he became deeply interested in world affairs and other peoples. He held two PhD’s.
Aubrey Diem’s life was devoted to photojournalism and writing on history, geography and politics. One of his works was a WW 2 political novel set in the Italian Alps on the border with Switzerland, called “First Rains of Autumn”. Others dealt with the Holocaust, government bureaucracy, and insights into German and Swiss politics and economics.
Aubrey Diem came to Switzerland in 1968 in search of a new home. He found it in Zinal, a small village in the mountains of Canton Valais, south of the town of Sierre.
Less than a year before Aubrey’s passing in July 2015, Bob Zanotti got together with him in the Italian town of Domodossola, at the south end of the Simplon Pass and rail tunnel, both of which have great historical importance. In a café across the street from the railroad station, Aubrey talked about his life and his view of the world.
The reportage about Domodossola, itself, can be found under “Where To Go”, along with “The Simplon Pass”, “The Great St. Bernard Pass”, and “Zinal” in which Aubrey Diem also participated.
Aubrey had a wry sense of humor. He could also be cynical. Here are a few of his favorite sayings:
– The masses are asses.
– Life is a terminal disease.
– Life is like a roll of toilet paper: The closer you get to the end, the faster it goes.
– When a doctor makes a mistake, they bury the evidence.
– Visitors are like fish: after three days they start to smell.
Switzerland In Sound – Aubrey Diem