Arnold J. (Arnie) Kreisman

October 29, 2014, 6:56 pm 0 Edit

KREISMAN: Arnold J. (Arnie) Kreisman, formerly of Squirrel Hill, passed away in his sleep at home on October 13, 2014, in Washington, D.C. He was 89. Born in Brooklyn, New York, on September 29, 1925, he was the son of the late Isidore Kreisman and the late Minnie (Lucashinsky) Kreisman. A veteran of the United States Army, Arnie was training for deployment to the Pacific Theater when World War II ended. Instead, he served in the Occupation Forces in Frankfurt, Germany, where he was sports writer for Stars and Stripes. A cartographer and geographer, Arnie earned a bachelor’s degree from the City College of New York and a master’s degree from Syracuse University, before moving to Pittsburgh for doctoral studies at the University of Pittsburgh, from which he earned his Ph.D. in Geography. In the age before computers, Arnie produced maps and did resource and development planning. Before coming to Pittsburgh in the early 1960s, Arnie designed relief maps for Aero-Service Corporation, first in Philadelphia and then in Santiago, Chile. His maps can still be found on occasion in antique and specialty stores. Arnie’s subsequent career was primarily spent with the Organization of American States (OAS), for which he worked in Paraguay, El Salvador, the Dominican Republic, and Peru. Arnie’s adventures led him to ride a canoe up the Peruvian Amazon River, experience an earthquake in Chile, and survive a deadly hurricane in the Dominican Republic. For the OAS, Arnie and his team first mapped the resources of a country, including the location of the people (their ages, education, skills), natural resources, weather, water, and other resources. The product was a plan to outline where various activities were best done such as farming and manufacturing. After retiring, he resided in Columbia, Maryland. Arnie’s first marriage, to Janet Friedman, produced two daughters, Erika Kreisman (a local criminal defense attorney) and Julie Freeman (Irv) (also a local attorney). His second marriage, to Elena Pino Guevara who he met in El Salvador, produced a third daughter, Florence Kreisman (Adam Hennessey). Florence is a manager of the Early Childhood instructional team in Washington, D.C., public schools. Arnie was a lifelong member of the Association of American Geographers. He was also proud to have helped elect President John F. Kennedy through his service as a Democratic Committeeman in Montgomery County in 1960. He was active in other political activities, including the grape boycott on behalf of Cesar Chavez’s United Farmworkers’ Union. Arnie was predeceased by his parents and by his sister, Lucille Safferman. In addition to his widow, his daughters, and his sons-in-law, Arnie is survived by four grandchildren (Alex Goldblum, Katie Freeman, Najá Kreisman, and Iris Hennessey), his sister Evelyn Prybutok, and nieces and nephews spanning the country from New Jersey to Hawaii. In addition, Arnie is survived by his unofficial “adopted son” Juan Neffa, who he brought from Paraguay to Pittsburgh as a teenager. A Memorial Service will be held on Sunday, November 16, 2014, at 1 p.m. at Rodef Shalom Congregation, 4905 Fifth Avenue, Pittsburgh, PA 15213. Donations may be made to the charity of the donor’s choice.