Meet a challenge, meet a need
“You ain’t seen nothin’ yet!” Professor George Reinfeld laughed to himself after Glassboro State College President Thomas Robinson raved about the Sept. 30, 1962, issue of The Whit. And Reinfeld’s jocular prediction proved accurate. Under his advisement, the College’s newly revamped student newspaper quickly garnered top honors in the state—soaring past Princeton University’s The Daily Princetonian, a hurdle that once seemed insurmountable.

And although he’s well known for taking The Whit to new heights, Reinfeld’s principal role in founding what is now the College of Communication stands out most among his many accomplishments.

Reinfeld knew that inadequate writing instruction would severely handicap graduates. So, one February evening in 1966, he met with Dr. Robinson in Hollybush to plan a new College department. Robinson envisioned a department that would offer both freshman and advanced writing courses, as well as a graduate public relations program. (In fact, the graduate program was started in 1967 by Professor Don Bagin, even before the department admitted its first majors in 1969.) And so, under Reinfeld’s leadership, the communications department was born.

Along with these notable contributions, his contemporaries also remember him helping to ready the campus for the arrival of President Lyndon Johnson and Soviet Premier Alexei Kosygin at the 1967 Hollybush Summit.

Also in ’67, when the College was to start a program to encourage minority enrollment, Robinson again turned to Reinfeld to get it going. With help from coach and professor Richard Wackar, he began planning the program, which he decided to call the King Scholars Program after Dr. Martin Luther King. “I planned to enroll about 100 students—black and white—based on the fact that they couldn’t afford to attend the College but had the potential to succeed,” Reinfeld said. Eventually renamed the Educational Opportunity Fund, the program continues opening doors to higher education for about 400 students yearly.

Reinfeld also was a classroom jack-of-all-trades, teaching American literature, advertising, public relations and writing, to name a few disciplines. “When I was chairman, if there was a hole in the schedule and no one would fill it, I would jump in myself and teach the course,” said Reinfeld. No task was beyond his abilities. But after 46 years, Rowan bid the multitalented professor farewell as he settled into retirement in 2002.

However, no one could accuse Reinfeld of leading a sedentary existence. He has found more than enough recreational pursuits to keep him busy. A self-taught pianist since age 14, he still plays daily. “It’s addictive,” Reinfeld said. Cole Porter, Rogers and Hart and George Gershwin emanate from Reinfeld’s baby grand piano, as well as any other tune he recognizes. “From an early age, my mother knew I had an ear for music,” said Reinfeld.

Reinfeld’s appreciation for literature rivals his strong affinity for music. Ever a learner, his bedside table bears his varied pile of recreational reading—murder mysteries, a seven-volume work about the life of George Washington and the complete essays of Michel de Montaigne.

Along with piano playing and reading, Reinfeld has another passion: backgammon. “My daughter bought me a birthday present when she was in high school. It must have cost her $5, but it was a lot to her. She bought me a backgammon set and we played and played,” said Reinfeld. That birthday gift helped him become an expert, attested to by two competitive backgammon trophies on his mantel, still another indication of Reinfeld’s tenacious pursuit of excellence.

Again recalling that first year as The Whit advisor, Reinfeld said the staff was delighted to learn they’d beaten Princeton, but devastated to accept defeat by Temple University’s The Temple News. Reinfeld wasn’t surprised and offered his students words of comfort: “Well of course they’re first—they’ve got a journalism school!” This was one of many factors supporting Reinfeld’s push for Glassboro to offer a communication program.

“So we developed the program,” Reinfeld said, “and we made sure made it allowed professors to concentrate on writing quality, not only in the basic freshman courses but also in the concentrations such as journalism, advertising and public relations. And time after time, our graduates went out and distinguished themselves in every field. As a teacher, that’s what you always aim for, and we got it in spades.”

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Alumni can honor retired faculty by donating to a scholarship fund and other investment. Call James Spencer at 856-256-5403 or visit the Rowan University Foundation.