Helen Reichert

Helen "Happy" Reichert (November 11, 1901 – September 25, 2011) was an American talk show personality, New York University professor, founder of The Round Table of Fashion Executives, and the oldest living alumnus of Cornell University at the time of her death at age 109, just seven weeks before she would have become a supercentenarian.

Early life

Helen Faith Kahn was born on November 11, 1901, on the Lower East Side of Manhattan to Polish Jewish immigrants. As a young girl, she participated in the Girl Scouts of the United States of America (GSUSA) and had the distinction of being a member of the first Girl Scout Troop to sell World War I war bonds.

In 1925, Reichert graduated Phi Beta Kappa with a degree in English from the College of Arts and Sciences at Cornell University. She experienced anti-Semitism in Ithaca as a Cornell student and had to change her name from Kahn to Keane due to Collegetown realtors refusing to rent an apartment to a Jewish woman. During her undergraduate career, she lived in Risley Hall on East Hill. According to her caretaker Olive Villaluna, Reichert worked in the cafeteria because "she was ashamed of asking her parents for money to buy cigarettes." She also participated in the women's crew team and is, according to IvyLeagueSports.com, "arguably the program's most well-known alumna."

In 1931, Reichert earned a master's degree in psychology from Teachers College, Columbia University.

Career in fashion

In 1947, Reichert began her thirty-year-long teaching career at The Graduate School of Retailing at New York University, where she taught "Fashion Co-ordination" and a self-created course called "Costume History." She has been credited with co-founding the Round Table of Fashion Executives in 1949. As a result of the growing Fashion Group International, it became increasingly difficult to network with other women in the industry. In addition, for six years, she worked as a copywriter for Bloomingdale's, ultimately rising to the position of Fashion Coordinator.