Oscar Wetherhold Riegel was born in Reading, Pa. He was a journalism graduate of the University of Wisconsin and earned a master's degree in American literature from Columbia University in 1930. . . . He joined Washington and Lee in 1930 and was named director of the department of journalism and communications in 1934, a post he held for 34 years. He retired as professor emeritus in 1973. Mr. Riegel began his career as a reporter and editor, including two years in the Paris bureau of The Chicago Tribune in the 1920's, before turning to the study of the gathering and use of information, first at Dartmouth College and then at Washington and Lee. By World War II he was already nationally known as an expert on propaganda and took a leave from Washington and Lee to serve as the principal propaganda analyst with the Office of War Information in Washington. [From the New York Times obituary]