American poet and academic
Thomas Joseph Reiter (March 7, 1940 – April 24, 2022) was an American poet, author, scholar, critic and lecturer. At the time of his death, he was emeritus professor of humanities at Monmouth University, where he had been a professor of English and the Wayne D. McMurray Endowed Chair of the Humanities. Reiter was the author of ten collections of poetry.
Early life and education.
Reiter was born on March 7, 1940, in Dubuque, Iowa. He was the third and final child of Gilbert Reiter and Alice (Miller) Reiter. Gilbert was of German ancestry and Alice was of German and French ancestry, her grandparents having emigrated from Alsace Lorraine.
Reiter attended Loras Academy (Dubuque, IA) from which he graduated in 1958. He went on to receive a Bachelors of Arts in English Literature (Magna Cum Laude) from Loras College (Dubuque, IA) in 1962, a Master of Arts in English Literature from the University of Virginia in 1962 on a Woodrow Wilson Fellowship, and a Ph.D. from the University of Massachusetts in 1970, where he wrote his dissertation on poet Glenway Wescott.
Adult life and career.
Reiter was an instructor of English at Siena College (NY) from 1963-1966.
In 1968, he joined the faculty of the English department of Monmouth University, and was eventually promoted to associate and then full professor. He also served as Monmouth's poet in residence.
In 1985, Reiter was appointed the Wayne D. McMurray Chair of the Humanities, making him the first recipient of an endowed chair in Monmouth University history. He served in that position until his retirement in 2005.
Reiter is the author of ten collections of narrative and lyric poems, whose settings were a wide variety of locales such as the Midwest, the prairie, the Mississippi River, the Pine Barrens, and the Caribbean. Reiter's poetic signature and trademark is his vast knowledge of botany, and poet Brendan Galvin referred to him as "probably the finest poet-botanizer since Robert Frost."
Reiter served as the editor of the "Cimarron Review".
Reiter retired in 2005 and died on April 24, 2022, at his home in Neptune, New Jersey.
Published works.
Reiter is the author of a number of books, and he also frequently contributed to anthologies and magazines. In 2000, his eighth collection of poetry, Pearly Everlasting, was submitted by Louisiana State University Press for the 2001 Pulitzer Prize in Original Verse.
Fellowships and awards.
Reiter received a number of fellowships, which enabled travel to places that served as the source of some of his writing.