Arnold J. Kreisman

1925 - 2014

Born in Brooklyn, New York on September 29, 1925 to parents Isidore and Minnie, Arnie Kreisman passed away at the age of 89 on October 13, 2014. A US Army veteran who served in the Occupation Forces in Frankfurt, Germany, Kreisman later became a professional cartographer and geographer.

Attaining his bachelor’s degree from the City College of New York, his master’s degree from Syracuse University, and finally his doctorate degree from the University of Pittsburgh, he was heavily involved in resource and development planning. During his career he produced relief maps for the Aero-Service Corporation in both Philadelphia and Santiago, Chile. He also worked in Paraguay, El Salvador, the Dominican Republic, and Peru for the Organization of American States (OAS). With OAS, Arnie mapped the resources of countries, displaying the location of people in regard to ages, education, and skills, the location of natural resources, and the location of weather, water, and other geographic conditions to determine the best location for activities such as farming and manufacturing. Kreisman also had a political career, serving as a democratic committeeman in Montgomery County for John F. Kennedy in 1960.

After retiring he moved to Columbia, Maryland. Kreisman has two daughters, Erika and Julie, with his first wife, Janet Friedman, and a third daughter, Florence, with his second wife, Elena Pino, whom he had met in El Salvador. The father of successful professionals, his first two of his daughters both have careers as attorneys and his third daughter is a manager for the Early Childhood Instruction Team for D.C. public schools.

He is survived by his widow, his sister, Evelyn Prybutok, his daughters and son-in-laws, nieces and nephews, as well as four grandchildren, Alex, Katie, Najá, and Iris. He also has an unofficial “adopted son” named Juan Neffa, whom he brought to Pittsburgh from Paraguay as a teenager. Kreisman was a lifelong member of the AAG and will be missed dearly by his family, friends, and the geography community.

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