Don Parrish (adventurer)

Don Parrish
Photo of Don Parrish taken on the Lighthouse of Market Reef (2007)
Born
Donald Maltby Parrish Jr.

(1944-10-27) October 27, 1944
Washington, D.C.
CitizenshipAmerican
Known forAdventure

Donald Maltby Parrish Jr. (born October 27, 1944) is an American adventurer and former technical manager at AT&T Bell Laboratories.

Early life and education

Donald Maltby Parrish Jr. was born on October 27, 1944, in Washington, D.C., to Donald Maltby Parrish and Herdis Borgny Anderson.[1] He grew up in Iowa and Dallas,[2] graduating from W.W. Samuell High School in 1962.[3] He graduated from the University of Texas in June 1966 with a Bachelor of Arts degree in mathematics.[4][5] In June 1968, he graduated from the University of Chicago with a Master of Science degree in Computer Science.[4][5]

Career

Parrish began working for Bell Labs in 1966.[6][7] In 1972, Parrish was transferred from Bell Labs to Illinois Bell.[8][9] In 1977, AT&T decided to sell its Electronic Switching Systems overseas.[10] Parrish retired in 1996 at age 51.[11]

Travel

Parrish has visited all 193 United Nations member states.[12]

In 1965, at age 20, he spent the summer in West Germany, working in a metal factory in Hanau and living with a local family.[11] Parrish purchased an old motorcycle and lived in a room in the home of a German family.[13] By 1969, he traveled through the Soviet Union and Eastern Europe[11] during the Cold War.[14] He made his first trip around the world in 1971.[11][15]

In 1983, Parrish completed visits to all 50 U.S. states.[16] By 2011, at age 66, he had visited all United Nations member states,[16] concluding with Mongolia.[17] Parrish also visited the South Pole on the 100th anniversary of Roald Amundsen's Expedition of 1911.[18]

In November 2013, Parrish visited Conway Reef, located approximately 280 miles from the main islands of Fiji. According to the Most Traveled People website, he was ranked number one on their list at that time.[19] In February 2017, he completed the Travelers' Century Club list of 325 countries, becoming the 26th person to do so.[20]

As of July 2022, Parrish had visited 937 of the 1,013 locations on the Most Traveled People list, maintaining the top rank.[21] He has also traveled to North Korea,[22] including visits to a war museum and monuments dedicated to Kim Il Sung.[23] During this trip, Parrish was selected by his group to place flowers at the grave of Kim Il Sung’s wife, Kim Jong-suk.[22]

Parrish has been profiled by Daily Herald,[24] BBC,[17] and Die Zeit.[1] He has been featured in: Chicago Tribune,[12] NBC ,[25] Daily Herald,[24] Emirates Airlines magazine,[11] The Daily Telegraph[26] and CBS Radio.[27]

Personal life

Parrish is unmarried with no children[12] and lives in the suburbs of Chicago.[28]

Parrish is a co-founder of the Libertarian Party of Illinois.[29] He was the Libertarian Party candidate for the United States Senate election in Illinois, 1986.[30][5]

Accomplishments

  • Parrish holds a US patent for Dynamic network automatic call distribution.[31]

Awards

  • Parrish received the ETIC Award for 2018, presented to him during the "Extreme Traveler International Congress."[32]
  • Parrish was awarded by the Travelers' Century Club president on March 11, 2017, for completing the TCC travel list of 325 countries. The award includes an engraved plaque on a pedestal of European crystal and a globe that rotates by Solar power.[20][33]
  • In 2015, BBC Travel named Parrish as one of six travel pioneers for 2015.[17]

References

  1. ^ a b "Don Parrish: The World's Most Traveled Man". ZEIT ONLINE (in German). Retrieved 2024-12-29.
  2. ^ Trapp, Ryan (2015). Chasing 193: The Quest to Visit Every Country in the World. CreateSpace Independent Publishing Platform. p.363.
  3. ^ "1962 yearbook from W.W. Samuell High School from Dallas, Texas". Classmates.com. Retrieved 2024-12-29.
  4. ^ a b Bell Laboratories Record, July/August 1983, Page 14
  5. ^ a b c Chicago Tribune, October 26, 1986, Campaign Section, US Senate page
  6. ^ Hirsch-Blackman, Joni (July 7, 2016). "A Lifetime of Travel". West Suburban Living.
  7. ^ Bell Laboratories Record 1965decadecounter.com
  8. ^ "1996 Review".
  9. ^ Bell Labs News, March 17, 1975, Page 1
  10. ^ Trapp, Ryan (2015). Chasing 193: The Quest to Visit Every Country in the World. CreateSpace Independent Publishing Platform. p. 366.
  11. ^ a b c d e Open Skies magazine, September 2016 issue. Open Skies Magazine. p. 59
  12. ^ a b c Most Traveled Person in the World
  13. ^ Trapp, Ryan (2015). Chasing 193: The Quest to Visit Every Country in the World. CreateSpace Independent Publishing Platform. p. 365.
  14. ^ Flood, Danny (2015-07-28). "The quest to visit every country: meet 34 of the most traveled people in the world". www.openworldmag.com. Retrieved 2024-12-29.
  15. ^ Trapp, Ryan (2015). Chasing 193: The Quest to Visit Every Country in the World. CreateSpace Independent Publishing Platform. p. 381.
  16. ^ a b Trapp, Ryan (2015). Chasing 193: The Quest to Visit Every Country in the World. CreateSpace Independent Publishing Platform. p. 386.
  17. ^ a b c "Travel Pioneers: Don Parrish". BBC Travel. Retrieved 2024-12-29.
  18. ^ "World's Most Traveled Man". 2017.
  19. ^ Trapp, Ryan (2015). Chasing 193: The Quest to Visit Every Country in the World. CreateSpace Independent Publishing Platform. p. 363.
  20. ^ a b "Travelers' Century Club Award".
  21. ^ "Most Traveled People". mtp.travel. Retrieved 2024-12-29.
  22. ^ a b Trapp, Ryan (2015). Chasing 193: The Quest to Visit Every Country in the World. CreateSpace Independent Publishing Platform. p. 379.
  23. ^ "Bizarre trip of Lifetime to N. Korea". Los Angeles Times. November 11, 2005. Retrieved 2023-08-10 – via PressReader.
  24. ^ a b Archived at Ghostarchive and the Wayback Machine: Moving Picture: Traveler Don Parrish. YouTube.
  25. ^ Budget Travel, NBC, April 28, 2011. [1]
  26. ^ Morris, Hugh (7 August 2018). "10 curious places you must visit in your lifetime, according to the world's most travelled person". The Telegraph.
  27. ^ "All Countries on Earth". www.donparrish.com.
  28. ^ Horne, Bev (2014-06-06). "Moving Picture: Downers Grove man is world's 'most traveled'". www.dailyherald.com. Retrieved 2024-12-29.
  29. ^ "Clubs and Organizations".
  30. ^ Larouche Pumps Up The 'Fringe', April 21, 1986, by R. Bruce Dold
  31. ^ "United States Patent: 5450482 - Dynamic network automatic call distribution".
  32. ^ "ETIC 2018 Awards". 17 November 2018.
  33. ^ "About the TCC | the Travelers' Century Club®".

Further reading

  • Ryan Trapp & Lee Abbamonte (2015). "Chasing 193: The Quest to Visit Every Country in the World". Createspace. ISBN 978-1508769064
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