| Robert Riesman; championed political causes
By Jack Encarnacao, Globe Correspondent, 6/9/2004 In 1946, Colonel Robert Arnold Riesman stood in front of a classroom of high school boys and told his story. Barely a decade older than the fresh-faced teenagers before him, Riesman, already an Army colonel, captivated them with tales of how he earned combat medals in North Africa and Europe. ''It did make a considerable impression," said noted film documentarian Frederick Wiseman, then 15, who heard him that day at The Country Day School for Boys of Boston. Mr. Riesman, who returned from World War II and championed philanthropic and political causes, died of respiratory failure June 2 at Miriam Hospital in Providence. He was 85. ''The way to have an ally is to be one," Mr. Riesman wrote in a letter to the editor that ran in The Boston Globe on July 4, 1986. He was writing about the US Senate's vote against an arms sale to Saudi Arabia, but it might well have been the guiding principle of his life, one that he used in his work with the US military, the Democratic Party, Jewish advocacy organizations, Harvard alumni, and his family's electric business. ''He could've come back after World War II and said, 'Listen, I've given more than most men have ever been asked to give,' " said state Senator Jack Reed, Democrat of Rhode Island, who spoke with Mr. Riesman every week for 15 years. ''And he didn't. He came back and he was engaged every day." Mr. Riesman was born Jan. 25, 1919, in Chelsea. He attended Boston Latin School and Harvard College, where he studied economics as a member of the same class as John F. Kennedy, who was once his boxing partner. ''He always reported that they both fought hard and it was declared a draw," said Mr. Riesman's son, Robert Jr., of Oak Park, Ill. Mr. Riesman received a ROTC commission from Harvard and joined the First Infantry Division in 1940 as a member of the 33d Artillery Battalion. After three years of service stateside, he was sent to the British Isles for training. He participated in Operation Torch in North Africa and in invasions of Algeria and Tunisia. He was wounded during an invasion of Sicily in 1943 when shrapnel struck him in the back. He was involved in photo-reconnaissance missions in Belgium and France before he was demobilized in the summer of 1945 as the war ended. He was awarded the Silver Star, Bronze Star, Purple Heart, Army Commendation Medal, the Assault Arrowhead, French Croix de Guerre, Medaille de Reconnaissance, and six battle stars. He later received the Distinguished Civilian Service Medal for his six years as civilian aide to the Secretary of the Army, an advisory role. ''He was a personification to me of the best we had during that era," said his friend Lawrence Weinberg of Los Angeles, who also fought in World War II. ''He was very clear about values and about responsibilities and about sacrifice . . . he'd do what had to be done." Once, Weinberg asked Mr. Riesman's help in finding out the fate of a war comrade. Mr. Riesman discovered that Weinberg's friend had died in action -- news that provided closure to a fellow veteran. ''To me, it meant an awful lot, and Bob understood that," Weinberg said. After the war, Mr. Riesman spent 16 years running his family's business, Royal Electric Co., and then served as president of Carol Cable Co. from 1961 to 1968. During this time, his political interests blossomed. Mr. Riesman cochaired the 1960 Kennedy-Johnson presidential campaign in Rhode Island and was state chairman of the Johnson-Humphrey campaign in 1964. He worked on the Humphrey-Muskie campaign of 1968 and on Senator Henry Jackson's bid for the Democratic presidential nomination in 1976. He was also finance chairman for Frank Licht's successful bid for governor of Rhode Island in the late '60s. Friends described Mr. Riesman as ''a conservative Democrat" dedicated to fostering opportunity and tolerance. ''He understood the huge potential of this country if people were given the chance to use their talents," Reed said. Mr. Riesman's political connections allowed him to be effective in just about every cause he took up. ''Bob could call on any Democratic senator and be welcome," said Harriet Zimmerman, a lifelong friend and fellow Jewish advocate. Mr. Riesman, who continued to study the Torah throughout his life, was at different times president of the Jewish Federation of Rhode Island, Rhode Island chairman of the Israel Bond Campaign, a board member of the Development Corporation for Israel, vice president of the American Israel Political Affairs Committee, and a founding member of The Washington Institute for Near East Policy. ''He was an absolute renaissance man," said Zimmerman, who accompanied Mr. Riesman on his annual visits to Israel. ''It was wonderful just to tag after him . . . he had such a broad vision of the world." Mr. Riesman read voraciously and wrote numerous letters to the editor that were published in the Providence Journal and The New York Times, among other publications. Mr. Riesman stayed on top of current affairs, but he was most stirred by history, said Neal Kozodoy, editor of Commentary Magazine, a Jewish advocacy publication, where Mr. Riesman served on the board. ''He was a great patriot, but a learned one," Kozodoy said, ''not a naive one." In addition to his son, Mr. Riesman leaves his wife, Marcia, of Providence; a daughter, Jean, of Jersey City; two brothers, Martin, of Newton and Eugene of Montreal; and two grandchildren. A funeral service was held. This story ran on page F12 of the Boston Globe on 6/9/2004.
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