Richard C. Wiles (1934–2017)
We regret to inform the community of the death, on 22 October 2017, of Richard C. Wiles, Charles Ranlett Flint Professor of Economics Emeritus. He died at his home in Riverside, Pennsylvania, at the age of 83. Dick taught at Bard from 1967 until his retirement in 1998. He served as acting Dean of the College in 1975–76. While at Bard, he established and edited The Hudson Valley Regional Review, founded 1984 and published by the College until 2001. He was also the author of Tivoli Revisited: A Social History, published in 1981.He is survived by his four children: Sharon Wiles-Young (Brian), Bethlehem, Pennsylvania; Stephanie Wiles (Jeffrey Rubin), Ithaca, New York; Gregory Wiles, Wooster, Ohio; and Kristin Wiles, Brookfield, New York; and seven grandchildren, including Seth Wiles-Young ’12. He is also survived by his sister, Elizabeth Katz (Mauri), his sister-in-law, Freda Macleod, and several nieces and nephews. He was predeceased by a granddaughter and his brother, James.
REMEMBRANCES
Richard Gordon, Research Professor in PsychologyI have very good memories of Dick Wiles, a gentle person, good colleague, and effective teacher. When I first came to Bard he was chair of the Social Studies Division, filling in for Frank Oja for a semester who was on sabbatical. That was a very pleasant introduction to Division meetings, which as we all know can get rocky at times. Dick was a helpful and friendly senior colleague, ready to give advice and share in his experiences. If my memory serves me correctly, he was from Boston originally (Watertown, right next to the town I grew up in). He opened a used bookshop in the barn of his house in Tivoli for a period of time. There was a distinctive group of Senior members of the Social Studies Division in the 70s, particularly Dick, Frank Oja, Dave Pierce and Bernie Tieger, all of whom have passed away. They are a permanent part of the memories of my first years at Bard. I’m sorry to hear of Dick’s passing.
Stuart Strizler-Levine, Professor Emeritus of Psychology, Emeritus Dean of the College
Richard Wiles – Dick – was a thoroughly decent individual - a thoroughly decent person who died recently at the age of 83 – still at a relatively young age within the common lifespan of today’s longevity within a longer lived aging population – in his home in Pennsylvania. He was a member of our Social Studies based Economics Program for some thirty years and held a chaired position for many of those years. He was a committed working member of our faculty and a respected citizen of our college community and of our surround. In that he retired some twenty years ago and moved away from our area perhaps less and less of those among us now know of him and of his place within our college. I knew him well over the many years of his Bard life and both respected him and had positive regard for the niche he filled at the college. To my mind and to the minds of those who knew him or knew of him he surely is well worthy of significant and very much affectionate recall and regard for his contribution and the manner of such to our place and our history. I would imagine that very few among us recall that he served as the dean in what is termed an “acting status” for a single year. This when President Botstein arrived in 1975. As I recall he did not much like or enjoy or feel comfortable being the dean and since I knew him as a colleague in Social Studies I learned that it all did not well fit his character and self-presentation of what is required of a senior academic administrator of a small and then struggling institution. He occasionally remarked that he did not like often saying “no” to those requests that seemed valid but beyond that which we could afford to do. He lived life within his means. And maybe even more importantly but not often he also disliked saying “yes” to what in his judgment were less than valued directions individuals were inclined to take which still gathered substantial community support. More than anything else during that solitary year as dean I believe that Dick missed his colleagues and he returned to his place in Aspinwall to serve our students and his program and to explore his great attachment to our valley and our region.
Richard was a modest individual in the many ways modesty is truly a virtue and a stance commanding our regard. I recall a studied simplicity but considered judgment and the wish to not pursue conclusions beyond available evidence. I served with him on countless numbers of academic review occasions that we all do in vast number. This when such were by rule constantly interdisciplinary. He was never less than the most thoughtful and prepared of contributors. He regarded well and fully his students and those of others and his colleagues and encouraged us all to provide such for each other and our disparate disciplines and interests. As I recall economics was not at the time at the center of the division but Dick made his presence and thinking vital by connecting his wide interests to much that we all do.
Beyond most things in life Dick was greatly connected to that which books bring to one’s existence. I recall that at one time we had a used bookstore on campus and Dick had vastly something to do with that. More than anything Dick Wiles was a consummate colleague. He loved that aspect of collegiate life. He had a quiet disposition and valued the pleasures of a small college as well as his small town. The President mentioned the publication of the social history of Tivoli and surely that was emblematic of the convictions of his life.
As I mentioned, Dick moved away from Bard many years ago and we all understood from occasional hearing that he was then connected to another community as he was to ours. Such the values he held close to himself and we all admired during his long tenure among us.
Richard Frank '74
Richard Wiles was as gifted a teacher as any I have encountered in over 35 years in the academy. He ran his classes with a twinkle in his eye and the uncanny ability to take whatever observations a student made (on or off point) and turn it into an enriching teachable moment. Richard was a well-trained economist whose scholarly work was in the history of economic thought. Economics as he showed us was not a technical exercise, but required a rich sense of history, social institutions and human nature. He would generously engage with all the ideas we would bring to him in his book-lined office wearing his tweed jacket with a pipe in the mouth. Looking back as an academic economist for more than 35 years, I continue to admire the teacher that he was and the influence he wielded. I had a chance to thank him several times in the years after I left Bard, but it did not do justice to what he gave me. Thanks again Mr. Wiles.
Amy Hass '72
As a freshman at Bard in 1968, one of the first classes I registered for was taught by Professor Wiles. In those days, economics was not a popular subject. I think there were five economics majors back then. I was a drama major, so there were six of us. I don't recall all of the classes I took with Professor Wiles (and there were many), but I remember very well his enthusiasm for the subject and how he drew me into economics with the questions he posed. My answers, I recall, were never wrong and only led to further discussion. He made me realize that there were many "right" answers. Discussions initially focused on the written words and then would meander off the page, seasoned by his aromatic pipe smoke. I left Bard after three years and two years later, after completing my undergraduate at NYU in economics, I was admitted to NYU graduate school in economics. So Professor Wiles was the reason why I gave up a career in theatre and film. I am forever thankful to Professor Wiles for having shared his love of economics with me and inspired me to follow a career path which I would never have imagined.
Brian Donohue '80
I just saw Leon's email about Dick, and it brought back memories. Some of us, his students, called him Einstein -- he had the look, the resemblance was kind of eerie, in fact. An amazing guy with seemingly limitless curiosity and a kind of intellectual vibrancy that you had to engage with to truly appreciate. I took his Macro course because other students told me it was an experience you didn't want to leave Bard without; and then I got to know him personally, since he was a close friend of my own academic advisor, Bill Lensing. We spent many evenings in the old Manor Gatehouse together; I would just sit back and listen, trying to absorb as much as I could from these two embodiments of true, living wisdom.
Others will be better able than I to tell you about Dick's influence on regional economics and the transformation of that girl's dorm on the Hudson into the economics institute; and the indelible mark he left on Bard's culture at large. All I can tell you about is a man who you always felt comfortable with, even though there was such a gap between us in age, experience, and accomplishment.
Post Date: 10-22-2017