Oscar Reiss

Background

Oscar Reiss was born on February 14, 1925 in Brooklyn, New York, United States, into the family of Abraham and Rose (Goldenberg) Reiss.

Education

Oscar Reiss studied at New York University, where he received a Bachelor of Arts (cum laude) in 1947. In 1951, Oskar earned a Doctor of Medicine at State University of New York Downstate Medical Center.

Career

Oscar Reiss entered the Army during World War II, and served in Europe. Dr. Reiss completed his medical residency at Brooklyn Veterans' Administration Hospital before opening a private practice in Internal Medicine in Bristol, Connecticut. He served the community for 20 years, and was a Clinical Professor of Medicine for 13 years at Yale-New Haven Medical School.

Dr. Reiss moved to Arizona in 1976, joining the staff of the Phoenix Veterans' Administration Hospital. Retiring for health reasons in 1984, he moved to San Diego where he began writing books that indulged his passion for history and medicine. He published books on Colonial America. He died on November 23, 2004 in San Diego, California, United States.

Achievements

• Oscar Reiss was mostly famous as the author of books Blacks in Colonial America and Medicine in the American Revolution.

Works

More photos

• book

  • The Jews in Colonial America

    (After a brief overview of the Jews' migrations around Eur...)

    2003
  • Blacks in Colonial America

    (This is a history of Africans in colonial America, from t...)

    1997
  • Medicine and the American Revolution: How Diseases and Their Treatments Affected the Colonial Army

    (Nearly nine times as many died from diseases during the A...)

    1998

Politics

Oscar Reiss described his political views as “moderate."

Views

Quotations: “I left private practice due to poor health. I took a job at a veterans’ administration hospital to help start a teaching program for interns and residents in internal medicine. I retired from that in 1983 due to a worsening of arthritis. I started to write so that my epitaph would say, ‘He was a good doc and he wrote books.’ If I had not become a physician, I would have wanted to be a history teacher in a small residential college. I became interested in colonial history from a college course. If I live long enough I will complete a trilogy on minorities in colonial America — blacks, Indians, and Jews.”

""My wife of nearly fifty years would say I was a workaholic during my years as a physician. Perhaps my writing is an attempt to avoid the loss of precious days at this late time of my life. I spend far more time researching than writing. After I have satisfied myself on the completeness of my research, I read and collate the material. It begins to fall into place, and the writing is relatively easy."

"I have achieved my wish for immortality in the numbers in the Library of Congress and books on a bookshelf in a public library."

Membership

Oscar Reiss was a member of Phi Beta Kappa.

• fellow

  American College of Physicians

Interests

• reading history

Connections

Oscar Reiss married Elinor Lois Shatzman, a newspaper columnist, on October 3, 1953. They had five children - Stephen, Marcia Reiss-Franklin, Michael, John, and Alice.

Father:

Abraham Reiss

Mother:

Rose (Goldenberg) Reiss

Spouse:

Elinor Lois Shatzman

Son:

Stephen Reiss

Daughter:

Marcia Reiss-Franklin

Son:

Michael Reiss

Son:

John Reiss

Daughter:

Alice Reiss