Good Bye to A Gifted & Caring Educator: Dr Paul E Reisch

Dr Reisch from the 1986 M&A Yearbook... they misspelled his name

There is a subtle difference between a teacher and an educator. A teacher teaches, imparts knowledge and information about how do do something. An educator does the same except what they teach you are things that can carry over to other areas and aspects of your life. An educator elevates you and your consciousness by inspiring critical thought about a given topic or the world around you in general.

Such can be said about Dr Paul Reisch, a former faculty member and alum of LaGuardia High School of the Arts in New York City, who transitioned last week. Whether you had him for English or Drama at Music & Arts or Performing Arts, you never saw the subject or the material the same way again once you studied it with Dr Reisch. Born in Germany and immigrating to the US as a child who spoke no English, he clearly overcame this issue by eventually earning his PhD in English. Likewise, he demanded such effort and excellence from his students and got it.

As a high school student, I had a gift for creative writing, but my critical writing skills were lacking a bit of structure in my approach. Having the opportunity to have Dr Reisch in the first semester of my senior year became a crash course in effective critical writing; how to effectively delineate ideas and points when reflecting on a piece of literature or a related concept where part and parcel of the mechanics of writing that Dr Reisch helped me to develop.

His passion for literature, drama and the intellectual development of his students was apparent and present in each moment that we spent with him in class; a passion that was infectious and definitely travelled with me well beyond my days as a student at Music & Art. He helped provide me with tools that carried me well through undergraduate and graduate school; to my professional work as a writer and educator. 

The impact that the good Doctor had on all of his students is the type of impact that all true educators dream of. Here, almost 30 years after my last time in his classroom, When I lecture and find myself emphasizing the words "For Ex-Ample" I know where it came from... Peaceful Journey's...