REINHOLD, Meyer 1909-2002

OBITUARY NOTICE—See index for CA sketch: Born September 1, 1909, in Brooklyn, NY; died July 1, 2002, in Nashville, TN. Historian, educator, and author. Reinhold was a scholar of the classics and worked to popularize Greek and Roman literature. He received his A.B. from the City College of the City University of New York in 1929 and his doctorate from Columbia University in 1933; he then studied in Rome for two years as a fellow of the American Academy. From 1938 to 1955 Reinhold taught classical languages and literature at Brooklyn College, but he was fired when, during the McCarthy era, he refused to reveal any of his political affiliations to the government (the college later apologized to him and others for these unjust dismissals). In need of work, he joined his brother's advertising firm, Richmond Advertising Services, where he was vice president for ten years. Reinhold returned to academia as an associate professor of Greek, Latin, and ancient history at Southern Illinois University, moving on to the University of Missouri at Columbia in 1967 as professor of classical studies. Promoted to Byler Distinguished Professor of Classical Studies in 1976, Reinhold left the university as emeritus professor in 1980. However, he did not retire from teaching, and went on to found the Institute for the Classical Tradition at Boston University, where he was a visiting professor until 1995. Reinhold was also founder and coeditor of the International Journal of the Classical Tradition. As a teacher, he went against tradition in his belief that the classics should be taught in translation so that those who could not read Greek or Latin could also appreciate these ancient works. Among his publications, many of which have remained in use in U.S. colleges, are some two dozen authored and edited books, including The Classical Drama (1959), Essentialsof Greek and Roman Classics: A Guide to the Humanities (1971), and Studies in Classical History and Society (2001).

OBITUARIES AND OTHER SOURCES:

periodicals

New York Times, July 5, 2002, p. A19.

Tennessean, July 4, 2002, p. B3.