Robert Risley Papers

Robert F. Risley (March 28, 1922-January 20, 1994)

Robert Risley who spent most of his working life at Cornell, grew up in Horseheads, New York and graduated high

school in 1940.

Graduating from Union College in 1948, Bob came to Cornell's newly established School of Industrial and Labor Relations where he earned the M.S. degree in 1949 and the Ph.D. degree in 1953. While still working on the degree, Bob was administrative assistant to ILR Dean Martin P. Catherwood. He also served a year as consultant to the President of the State University of New York on administrative organization and personnel policy. His dissertation dealt with faculty personnel policies.

Bob Risley was appointed to the ILR faculty in 1953 and a year later was promoted to the rank of Associate

Professor. In 1959, he became Acting Dean of the School pending selection of a new dean. This was an assignment

he was to take on again on two other occasions, in 1963 and in 1971. In 1960 and 1961, Dean Catherwood, who

had become Industrial Commissioner for New York State, persuaded Bob to take a leave of absence to assist him

as Deputy Commissioner for New York City. From 1963 to 1970, Bob was Associate Dean for Extension and

Public Service. From 1971 to 1974, he served in Day Hall as University Vice Provost. All of these assignments

called on Bob Risley's special talent and sensibility in working with varied persons and interest groups whether

he was dealing with governmental bureaucrats, legislators, labor or business people, or university employees. He

accomplished these purposes, less by rhetorical skill, than by dint of a keen, perceptive and creative intelligence.

He was a continuing source of fresh, imaginative ideas to those with whom he worked , and in turn he encouraged others to perform at their best.

In his various roles at Cornell, Bob was active in the affairs of the ILR Alumni Association. It was his idea to

establish an annual award to honor a distinguished graduate of the School who has demonstrated exceptional

professional accomplishment in the field of industrial and labor relations. Over the years, the Judge William B.

Groat Award has become highly prized. Fittingly, Bob himself was the 1989 recipient of the award.

From his graduate student days on, Helen and Bob Risley lived in Candor where they became central figures in the

life of the village. Here they raised their two sons, Robert, Jr. and Thomas. Helen was a popular high school teacher.

For over 25 years, Bob was active in public education as a member and president of the Candor School Board and

also with the Tompkins-Seneca-Tioga Board of Cooperative Educational Services, including time as its president.