Moore, Terris

Variant names

Dates:

Birth 1908-04-11

Death 1993-11-07

Biographical notes:

Terris Moore was born in Haddonfield, N.J. in 1908 and received a B.A. (1929), an M.B.A. (1933), and a Doctorate (1937). In the 1930's he was one of the most renowned mountain climbers in the U.S. During World War II, Moore served as an expert consultant to the Army Quartermaster General from 1942 to 1944. In this capacity, he helped to create many of the items that were subsequently used by the Army in mountain and winter warfare. Moore died in 1993.

From the description of Terris Moore papers, 1942-1943 [manuscript]. (Denver Public Library). WorldCat record id: 244249630

Terris Moore, born on April 11, 1908, grew up in Haddonfield, New Jersey. He attended Williams College in 1925, graduating with a geology major. In 1929, he entered the Harvard Graduate School of Business Administration, graduating with a Mater of Business Administration and a Doctorate in Commercial Science in 1936. Moore was part of mountaineering teams that made the first attempts of major peaks as Mt. Bona, Mt. Fairweather, Mt. Sanford, as well as being part of the first American expedition to summit Minya Konka in western China. He climbed Mt. McKinley in 1942 to test military equipment for the Army, at a time when only eight others had reached the summit. In 1949, he returned to Alaska as the second President of the University of Alaska where he presided until his resignation in 1953.

After Moore left the presidency of the University of Alaska, he worked as a professor at Colby College and spent several years as a business and research consultant. He kept his ties with the Alaska and the University through serving on the advisory board of the Geophysical Institute and through assisting as a pilot in various scientific expeditions, including breaking the high-altitude record for fixed-wing landings as he led two Army transport helicopters to land on Mt. Sanford in 1959. Moore was also involved in stabling the observatory on Mt. Wrangell. He was honored with an honorary doctorate in 1967 and was named President Emeritus in 1973.

Moore died in his home in Cambridge, MA on November 7, 1993.

Katrina Hincks Moore was born September 29, 1908, to Henry and Elizabeth Hincks. She graduated from Vassar college in 1930 where she was the editor of the campus newspaper The Miscellany News. On June 6, 1933 she married Terris Moore to whom she was married to for sixty years until his death in 1993. She was a Spanish linguist and in 1976 completed the “Spain Claims Alaska Project” locating and translating documents relating to Spanish exploration of the Northwest Coast and Alaska. She authored several articles and a biography of Terris Moore titled "From Borestone to the Bering Strait." Katrina died February 1, 2003 in Norfolk County Massachusetts.

From the guide to the Terris Moore and Katrina Hincks Moore Papers, 1908-1995, (University of Alaska Fairbanks Alaska Polar Regions Collections & Archives)