Department of Visual Arts SUNY Distinguished Service Professor Emeritus Daniel D. Reiff recently published the final volume of a biography of his father, who was an influential educator and public servant.
“Teacher, Scholar, Mentor: St. Lawrence University’s Dr. Harry Reiff and His Family, 1950-1966.” The 522-page book, with extensive footnotes and appendices and over 300 illustrations (black and white, and color), is the third in the memoir’s series; Volume I (covering 1899-1930) and Volume II (1930-1950), were published in 2013 and 2015, respectively.
“My father’s story is typical of what is possible in America,” noted Professor Reiff. “Raised in Brooklyn, he was sent to work (illegally) at age 13 in 1912; but thanks to his dedication, his ‘hopes and dreams,’ and a lot of hard work, he finally wound up with three degrees from Harvard University. A decade later, as an expert in international law, he worked for the U.S. State Department (1943-1946) on delegations both to write the United Nations Charter (San Francisco Conference, 1945), and to set up the UN itself (London Conference, 1945-46).”
The newest volume covers other distinctive achievements: founding the first International Model UN in America at St. Lawrence; a Fulbright lectureship in Cairo (1953-54); and a U.S. Information Service (U.S.I.S.) lecture tour for four months in Korea and Japan in 1960 – which were pivotal years for both countries. It also reviews the international travel he and his wife took, in Mexico and throughout Europe, in his retirement years (1967-1983). Thanks to voluminous diaries, personal letters, numerous family photos, and extensive other records, the events are documented in vivid detail, as is his distinguished and influential 38-year teaching career.
“There is also a special Fredonia connection,” noted the author: “Both Harry and Ione Reiff were friends of [SUNY Fredonia President] Dallas and Kris Beal, having met them at the famous Pinebrook Conference on Chinese Art and Culture in June 1964, and later visited the Beals in Fredonia.”
The volume is available from St. Lawrence University’s Brewer Bookstore. For more information, contact the author via email.
