 Riess was born in Washington, D.C., one of three children.He grew up in Warren, New Jersey, where his father (Naval engineer Michael Riess) owned a frozen-foods distribution company, Bistro International, and his mother (Doris Riess) worked as a clinical psychologist.Michael Riess (1931–2007) immigrated to the United States with his parents (journalist, war correspondent and author Curt Riess and Ilse Posnansky) from Germany on the ship SS Europa (1928) in 1936.