AUSTIN FOX RIGGS
1876 - iauo
In the death of Dr. Austen Fox Riggs of Stockbridge,
Massachusetts, March 5, l9hO, the Faculty of Vassar
College lost a distinguished and helpful colleague.
He was appointed Lecturer and Consultant in Mental
Hygiene at Vassar in the spring of l92h, and with
the cooperation of members of his staff of the Riggs
Foundation at Stockbridge he continued to serve in
this capacity until his death.
Under the direction of Dr. Riggs, Vassar became a
pioneer in recognizing the importance and even the
necessity of psychiatric services in the diagnosis
and treatment of problems of young people. Through
his skillful aid many of our students who suffered
from difficulties of maladjustment, from emotional
instability or other disorders of a psychiatric
nature received from him diagnosis and constructive
rehabilitation. During these years, 192h to l9hO,
many members of our college community came under
the healing and stimulating guidance of Dr. Riggs,
and those of us who were not his patients but his
fellow-workers have had continuing benefit from his
sane and invigorating attitude towards life and its
problems.
Dr. Riggs, the son of a physician, was born in Ger-
many while his parents were residing abroad. He was
graduated from Harvard College and from the College
of Physicians and Surgeons of Columbia University,
and took post-graduate study at Johns Hopkins Medical
School in Baltimore. He founded and remained until
his death the head of the Riggs Foundation in Stock-
bridge, established for the free treatment of
patients who needed psychiatric care and who were
unable to bear the expense. Many members of Vassar
College have been privileged to benefit by the treat-
ment and care thus afforded by the Riggs Foundation.
This is but one tangible expression of the generosity
in giving of himself without stint which was the
dominating characteristic of Dr. Riggs.
His method of therapy was one which was based pri-
marily on regard for the person as a whole, on a
philosophy of life which was strongly social, not
AUSTIN FOX RIGGS (Continued)
individualistic, and which combined a strictly
scientific training with a rarely humane and sym-
pathetic understanding of people. His books written
for the general public, "Intelligent Living", "Just
Nerves" and "Play", are the embodiment of his own
rich living and boundless generosity of spirit. We
are grateful for what he was and for what he did,
and feel a just pride in the distinction he conferred
upon Vassar College in associating himself with us.
His friends and colleagues at Vassar will long hold
him in grateful remembrance.
Jane North Baldwin
Helen P. Langner
C. Mildred Thompson
X - 159