Professor Emeritus of Microbiology and Immunology, Indiana University School of Medicine
1911-2006
Passed by the IUPUI Faculty Council at their meeting on January 9, 2007.
Professor Harold A. Raidt died April 13, 2006 in Frankfort, Indiana after a very brief illness. He was 94 years old. Harold was born in the town of Brooksburg in Jefferson County, Indiana on August 12, 1911. He attended Hanover College from 1929 – 1932, received his BS degree from the University of Kentucky in 1933 and the MS in Bacteriology from the University of Kentucky in 1934.
These were the years of the Great Depression and Harold, recently married to Myrtle Hawes, discontinued his education and joined the faculty of the School of Medicine as an Instructor in 1935. He proceeded through the ranks to full Professor and retired in 1977 after a remarkable 42 years of service to the University.
Harold excelled as a teacher and his major academic responsibilities were in the classroom as a course director, lecturer and laboratory instructor. Few faculty in this University have taught a greater number of microbiology courses. Throughout his career he taught students of medicine, dentistry, nursing, dental hygiene and various allied health programs. During a typical academic year Harold would be involved in the teaching of 500 to 600 students. Each of the student groups mentioned are different in academic background and have different professional goals. Harold was a master at designing and offering instruction in microbiology which was interesting and appropriate for each group of students. He had a life long enthusiasm for microorganisms and their role in disease production. This enthusiasm was easily sensed by the students and aided their assimilation of the subject. Harold kept abreast of advances in this dynamic field and judiciously incorporated these advances as appropriate for each student group. His lectures were well organized, concise and respectful of the student’s time but also interspersed with humor to alter the pace. Harold took a personal interest in the students and encouraged those that showed ability and promise and extended sympathetic help to those having difficulty. For almost all of his 42 years on the faculty Harold was director of the microbiology course for students of nursing. Generations of nurses had the benefit of learning from this gifted teacher. Harold’s exemplary teaching efforts were recognized in 1967 when he was awarded the I.U. Nursing School Alumni Association Teaching Award and in 1968 when Indiana University recognized him with the Distinguished Teaching Award presented to him on Founders Day. He was the first faculty member of the Microbiology department to receive this award.
In 1986 the faculty of the Department of Microbiology and Immunology established an annual award for the graduate student in the department who had distinguished him or herself as a teaching assistant in departmental courses. The faculty designated this award as “The Harold Raidt Graduate Student Teaching Award”. Harold was proud of this recognition and each year would come from his home in Frankfort to personally present the award to the recipient. In recent years he no longer could make the trip because of Myrtle’s illness and subsequent death in 1999. He then sent a personal congratulatory letter that was presented to the student at the awards ceremony.
The qualities that contributed to Harold’s brilliance as a teacher were part of what also made him a special person. He and Myrtle raised three fine children, Carolyn, Charles and Joe. Along with their grandchildren this has always been a close knit and caring family. Harold enjoyed traveling and was an outstanding photographer. When the children were young Myrtle and Harold would take them on extensive automobile trips, particularly to the western national parks. Harold’s photographs of their majestic beauty were exceptional. In later years Myrtle and Harold would tour together and sometimes Harold would just go by himself. The photographic record of these trips ranged from a misty fishing village in Nova Scotia to massive stone formations in Utah or a short trip to southern Indiana to visit a beautiful waterfall. Harold never gave the impression that he thought he was an extraordinary picture taker. “The light happened to be good” or “I was lucky those clouds developed” was his explanation for a particularly good picture.
This unassuming, modest and selfless manner would allow the casual observer to think of Harold as ordinary, but colleagues, students and friends knew he was anything but! A former Dean of the School of Nursing said of Harold, “He is one of the finest teachers and finest human beings it has been my privilege to know”. A graduate student instructor in the course for nurses wrote an unsolicited letter to the department chairman which included, “What is most unusual about Professor Raidt is his wonderful synthesis of good teaching, gentleness and humor. He is tremendously unassuming. He has communicated to me something very special, -- I wish I could repay him”. Harold was never heard making a derogatory comment about a colleague; he had a smile every day and was gracious and courteous in all his interactions.
A gentle man and a true gentleman. It was a privilege to know him as a colleague and as a friend.
Be it resolved that this memorial resolution be presented to the Faculty Council of Indiana University Purdue University at Indianapolis.
Respectfully submitted:
D.C. Bauer, Ph.D.
Professor Emeritus of Microbiology and Immunology