JEFFREY TODD HOWARTH

MIDDLEBURY — Jeffrey Todd Howarth passed away at Porter Hospital in Middlebury, Vt., Feb. 25, 2026, after bravely fighting a rare, aggressive form of cancer. He was 54 years old. Jeff was a devoted professor, father, husband, and community leader and he will be dearly missed by many.

Jeff was born Aug. 18, 1971, in Princeton, N.J., to Bonnie and William Howarth. His taste for adventure was nurtured at a young age traveling alongside his father, a distinguished professor at Princeton University who was frequently on assignment for National Geographic. Attending U.C. Santa Cruz for undergraduate studies gave focus to his passion for conservation, the wilderness, and the importance of balancing the needs of humans with the needs of native plants and animals. While at U.C. Santa Cruz, he met lifelong friends and fellow adventurers whose antics and stories sustained him throughout. In those formative years, he solo hiked a long stretch of the Pacific Crest Trail and traveled the American West working for Idaho Fish and Game in the Targhee National Forest; the Institute for Wildlife Studies on California’s San Clemente and San Miguel Island; and The Nature Conservancy in the Gearhart Bog Preserve in Oregon.

After graduating, he worked for the Santa Cruz Island Reserve from 1994-2000. It was on Santa Cruz Island that Jeff developed his deep and abiding affinity for foxes of all kinds. Photos of the Santa Cruz island foxes that he researched, and worked to protect, could be seen for years to come in the lectures Jeff gave to Middlebury College students. His field work and talents led him to U.C. Santa Barbara’s School of Geography, where he earned his master’s and Ph.D.

Jeff joined the Middlebury College Geography Department in 2007. During his time as a professor, he taught hundreds of students to see the world differently, and to communicate the world to others through maps. His courses spanned GIS, remote sensing, cartography, and conservation planning — waitlists were always long. As a teacher he was innovative at every turn, pioneering the flipped classroom and problem-based techniques for geospatial learning, creating challenging material for each class, and developing a trove of open-source material to make it easier for students everywhere to learn to think spatially. He was nationally recognized as a leading expert in geospatial pedagogy, and locally revered by many cohorts of Middlebury geographers. He was deeply loved by his students for his combination of easy-going manner, exacting standards, wry humor, and generosity with his time and attention.

Jeff’s high standards were not just reserved for his students. He led by example, demanding the highest standard of performance from himself. “Good enough” was never enough for Jeff. He was passionate about cartography and excelled in creating singular maps that revealed how people, animals and plants use and move over landscapes. He supported students, colleagues, and multiple communities of practice with his work and guidance, including the North American and International Cartographic Information Societies, the towns of Middlebury and Cornwall, the Middlebury Area Land Trust, the Middlebury College Lands Committee, and the Vermont Agency of Natural Resources, among many others. His legacy continues to expand through his students who have gone on to work at outlets like the New York Times, National Geographic, National Park Service, NASA, the World Resources Institute, and Scientific American.

Jeff was a thoughtful and deeply loving father to Aldo and Isabel and partner to Jessica Chatfield. He loved coaching Aldo’s soccer team, doing puzzles and Legos with his kids, and spending time in the great outdoors with his family. He will be deeply and profoundly missed.

In lieu of flowers, please consider a donation to MALT (Middlebury Area Land Trust) (https://www.maltvt.org/). A memorial service will be held in the spring. ◊