Thomas Rieser

Thomas Rieser Social Worker, Mentor, Friend Thomas Croasdale Rieser, 72, of South County, died Monday, July 4, 2016 after a long illness. Thom was the son of the late Marie and Mark Rieser of Narragansett, RI. Thom was born in Reading, Pennsylvania in 1943 and lived there until 1958 when the family relocated to Rhode Island. He was a graduate of North Kingstown High School and continued his education at Franklin & Marshall College in Lancaster, Pennsylvania. After graduating with a BA in Psychology in 1965, Thom began his career as a researcher with Jackson Laboratory in Bar Harbor, ME. In 1967 he returned to RI and subsequently, PA, to pursue his love of music at the University of Rhode Island and Penn State through graduate studies in Fine Arts and over his lifetime became an accomplished classical pianist. Inspired by his mother, Marie, who was one of the early pioneers in the area of women’s rights, particularly with Planned Parenthood of Rhode Island, he relocated to Philadelphia to begin a new career as a counselor with the PA Bureau of Corrections in 1972. He received his Masters in Social Work from Temple University in 1981. From 1988 to 1994 he worked with Volunteers of America as Director of Correctional Programs in Collingswood, NJ and later as Program Director in Binghamton, NY. From 1995 to 2002 he served as Program Director and later Director of Transitional Programs at Shattuck Shelter in Jamaica Plain, MA. Thom began his 14 year career with CODAC Behavioral Healthcare in 2002 as a clinician in CODAC’s Newport, RI location. Thom’s boundless energy and passion for research combined with his selfless desire to help underserved populations enabled him to work concurrently as the project manager of a cancer prevention research project led by Dr. James Prochaska at the University of RI, which utilized Motivational Interviewing and Stages of Change theory to address tobacco use. Thom did this while also serving in his position at CODAC and as the assistant director of URI’s Survey Research Center. Around the same time, he began working toward attaining certification as a Tobacco Treatment Specialist (TTS), through the ATTUD program at UMass Medical. He went on to become one of only a handful of certified Master level Tobacco Treatment Specialists in RI. On his own initiative, Thom undertook the research that would become the foundation of CODAC’s tobacco treatment programs. In 2014, Thom and a colleague were invited by UMASS Medical to become certified as tobacco cessation trainers and to provide the trainings that lead to TTS certification in the State of Rhode Island. Along with his CODAC colleagues, Thom provided several successful trainings, both for CODAC staff and to outside providers. In 2013, he was invited to present on the subject of Tobacco Cessation Services in Substance Abuse and Mental Health Treatment at the American Public Health Association’s annual conference in Boston. Thom’s unwavering passion for his work and remarkable commitment to his patients and colleagues has touched many lives in many different ways. He was a counselor, supervisor, mentor, scholar, teacher, and friend to many of us. He was also an unassuming intellectual - he knew history, philosophy, religion, great literature, poetry, art, classical music and interior design. Life did not define Thom; Thom defined life with absolute compassion, humility and love for the sanctity of all things. Many of us had a special relationship with Thom because he had a remarkably open heart. He always had a playful curiosity, respect, and deep compassion towards all beings. On his office door, a sign hung which stated, “All Judgment Is Violence”. Thom’s loving presence is a loss to the world at a time when compassion and love are so needed. He is survived by a sister, Nancy Rieser of West Kingston, RI, an uncle, Charles Grim, of Lititz, Pennsylvania, his cats, Cyrus and Hitta, his godson Luke, and an entire universe of people who love him. A celebration of life will be held Sunday, August 21, 2016 at 2:00pm in Westminster Unitarian Church in East Greenwich, RI. A brief burial service will be held in Old Fernwood Cemetery in Kingston on July 28, 2016 at 10:30. Gifts to the memory of Thom Rieser may be given to Hope Hospice & Palliative Care Rhode Island, 143 Main Street, Wakefield, RI 02879.