Theodore (or Ted) Paul Bank II was born on August 31, 1923 in Patterson, Louisiana. From 1941-1943 he studied human biology at Harvard. During World War II he served as a naval weather observer in the Aleutians Islands and the North Pacific. He returned to his studies after the war and earned a Bachelors Degree in Forestry at the University of Michigan. In 1950, he earned his Masters Degree in Ethnobotany from the University of Michigan. Bank did postgraduate work in Anthropology at the University of Michigan from 1947 to 1953 (Consortium Library, Archives and Manuscripts Department).
Theodore Paul Bank II was married to his first wife, Janet Fowler, from 1948-1953 and his second wife, Shirley Waterman, from 1954-1962. Trina Paula Lindenstein, his third and final wife, whom he married in 1963, remained with him for the rest of his days. He had two children, Theodore Paul Bank and Kristin Kara Bank. Often, during his journeys and field work, Bank took his wife with him and they assisted him in the field. (Consortium Library, Archives and Manuscripts Department).
Theodore Paul Bank II was a member of many professional organizations, including the American Anthropological Association (fellow), the Society of American Archaeology (fellow), the Polar Society, and the Pacific Science Association. He was also a fellow of the Explorers Club and a frequent contributor to their journal (The Explorers Journal), as well as a proud carrier of Explorers Club Flag #159. Throughout his studies and travels, Bank wrote many books and articles. His publication, Birthplace of the Winds (1956), was a personal account of an early Aleutian expeditions.
Some of the different scientific expeditions Bank led were to the Aleutian Islands and Japan (1955-1956), Argentina, West Africa, Mexico, Southeast Asia, and the South Pacific.
He held many different titles during his professional career. They included a village teacher in Atka, Alaska (1948-1949); Executive Director of the American Institute for Exploration (1954-1981); Visiting Lecturer at the University of Hokkaido (1955-1956); Research Associate at the University of Michigan Museum of Anthropology (1956-1957); Assistant Professor of Anthropology at Chicago Teachers College North (1961-1963); Social Research Anthropologist at Agnews State Hospital (1965-1966); Visiting Lecturer at the College of San Mateo (1965-1966); Assistant Professor of Anthropology at Chapman College, Seven Seas Division (1967); Professor of Social Science at Western Michigan University (1967-1981); and Director of the Aleutian-Bering Sea Institutes Program (1969-1981) (Consortium Library, Archives and Manuscripts Department).
Sadly, Bank passed away at the age of fifty-seven in June of 1981.
Resources
Theodore Paul Bank http://www.lib.uaa.alaska.edu/archives/CollectionsList/CollectionDescriptions/ALBtoB/BANKTP.wpd.html, (2002)
Written By: Ted Katzung, 2002
Edited By: Lillian Dolentz, 2008