Provost Peggy Agouris sent the following messages to faculty and staff on Sept. 30, 2025. – Ed.

Dear colleagues,

I write to inform you that Theodore Russell Reinhart, Professor Emeritus, Anthropology, passed away in August 2025 at the age of 87.

A professor of Anthropology at William & Mary for 35 years, Prof. Reinhart specialized in North American and Mesoamerican Indigenous cultures. He graduated from Liberty High School in Bethlehem, PA, in 1955 and joined the U. S. Army at the age of 17, serving three years with the U.S. Army Security Agency in South Korea. He received an undergraduate degree in Philosophy from Penn State University in 1961, a Masters in Anthropology from George Washington University in 1964, and a Ph.D. in Anthropology from the University of New Mexico in 1968.

An active field archaeologist who trained many W&M students as well as volunteers from the Archeological Society of Virginia, Prof. Reinhart loved books, the outdoors, camping, and travel, especially throughout the American Southwest. He completed two oar trips down the Colorado River through the Grand Canyon and numerous camping trips with his sons, and later in life, with his grandchildren. He also ventured on 49 cruises with his wife throughout Europe and the Caribbean.

He is survived by his loving wife of 67 years, Joy Bennett Baxter Reinhart; his sons, Steven Theodore Reinhart, and Brian Chester Reinhart (wife Michelle Fox Reinhart). He was also a proud and devoted grandfather to Mitchell Theodore Reinhart, Brian Coleman Reinhart, Harrison Cabot Reinhart, Katherine Addison Reinhart, Elizabeth Kayla Reinhart, and Steven Talan Reinhart, and step-grandfather to John Tyler Daspit. He was preceded in death by his mother, Arleene Mantana Greene Reinhart Linn, and his father, Russell Wilson Reinhart.

Prof. Reinhart is remembered as a devoted husband, father, grandfather, traveler, academic, and talented educator and mentor to generations of students. In lieu of flowers, the family encourages donations to The Archeological Society of Virginia.

Sincerely,

Peggy