Sallyportal: Madly Blogging Reed

Memorial for Ted Reich ’51 set for Aug. 22

By Chris Lydgate ’90 on August 13, 2013 12:02 PM

Ted Reich ’51 and Barbara Weeks Shettler ’50 were honored for distinguished service during Reunions at Reed in June.

A celebration of the life of longstanding Reed trustee Ted Reich ’51 will be held at the Portland Yacht Club, 2–5 p.m., on Thursday, August 22, 2013.

Classic car enthusiast, sailor, mountaineer, investor, and philanthropist, Ted was one of the world’s foremost authorities on Rolls-Royce and Bentley motorcars. His fascination with automobiles began in early childhood. His father, a surgeon in Cleveland, Ohio, taught Ted to appreciate the design and details of fine motorcars, and Ted was enthralled when his cousin from England arrived at the Reich home in a Bentley. “By the time I was four, I could tell a Duesenberg from a Cadillac.”

Ted came to Portland to attend Reed, where he earned a BA in psychology. “I viewed my years at Reed as positive in virtually all respects,” he said later. A competitive athlete in high school, Ted loved mountain climbing and skiing in the Pacific Northwest. He hiked to the summits of the Cascade Range, and climbed Mount Hood seven times. On his twenty-first birthday, he climbed the Matterhorn in Switzerland. At Reed, he joined the Boar’s Head Ensemble, and faithfully sang at the annual holiday party for 65 years.

A year after his graduation, Ted married Gloria C. Erickson ’54 in the Eliot Hall chapel. He worked in insurance sales and the couple lived in Cleveland and Philadelphia before moving back to Portland, where Ted worked in Reed’s development office (1960–65). In 1966, he joined Merrill Lynch as a stockbroker, advancing to the position of vice president before his retirement in 1991. Ted joined Reed’s board of trustees in 1982 and served until 1997, when he retired as trustee emeritus. He also served as director of the alumni association in the ’60s and volunteered for the alumni career network. In addition to Reed, his philanthropic activities included Friends of the Gallery, Northwest Loaves and Fishes, the City Club of Portland, Temple Beth Israel, and the National Conference of Christians and Jews. In 2013, he received the Foster-Scholz Distinguished Service Award in recognition of his outstanding contributions to Reed and to the Portland community.

Ted and Gloria were members of the Portland Yacht Club and spent many happy hours sailing and racing their sloop on the Columbia River. In 1973, Ted proudly raced with several friends in “Nimble” on the Transpac race from Los Angeles to Hawaii. In addition to yachting, Ted was fascinated by the preservation of classic cars; he restored and drove many classics and especially enjoyed researching the history of each car. “These cars are really living entities. We’re just the custodians.” Ted and Gloria were intrigued by Rolls-Royces and participated in tours, shows, meets, and rallies around the world. In 2007, they raced one of their cars in the Mille Miglia Storico 1000-mile rally in Italy. Ted served on the board of directors of the Rolls-Royce Owners’ Club, the regional board of the Classic Car Club of America, and was president of the Historical Automobile Club of Oregon. Throughout his life, Ted enjoyed sharing the things he loved with his family and friends to whom he was devoted.

Ted died July 16, 2013, from injuries sustained in an automobile accident near Olympia, Washington. Survivors include Gloria, son David and daughter Evelyn, four grandchildren, and a brother.

Please join us to celebrate Ted's life. In lieu of flowers, the family asks that you please make a contribution to Reed in his memory.

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