Redd Griffin

Redd F. Griffin (December 3, 1938 - November 20, 2012) was a prominent member of the community of Oak Park, Illinois. He served as a member of the Illinois General Assembly from 1980 to 1983, representing the state's 21st legislative district, which included Oak Park and neighboring areas. He was a leading supporter of several local organizations in the Oak Park area, and for many years served as a trustee of Shimer College.

Early life and education

As a child, Griffin lived on the grounds of the Chicago-Read Mental Health Center, then known as the Illinois State Mental Hospital, where his father was superintendent.

Griffin left Shimer in 1958 to work in production at WTTW, Chicago's public television station. There he founded "Das Tor," an organization dedicated to improving understanding between Americans and Europeans.

Griffin first took political office as a trustee of Oak Park Township in Cook County. As a member of the Illinois General Assembly, Griffin sponsored legislation dealing with local issues, including a resolution calling for a study of violence on mass transit.

Nonprofit and educational work

Griffin was a member of the faculty of Triton College in River Grove, Illinois from 1997 to 2012, where he taught philosophy.

Griffin was deeply involved in the study of the local history of Oak Park. In an interview conducted with the local Oak Park newspaper a few months before his death, he said that "I want to keep the continuity with the past alive." He served as a founding trustee of several key local organizations in Oak Park, including the Frank Lloyd Wright Home and Studio Foundation, the Hemingway Foundation, and the Oak Park Visitors Center. He also served on the board of the Illinois State Historical Society, and also as a trustee of his alma mater Shimer College.

Griffin contributed to a 1999 Japanese edited volume on Hemingway titled Heminguwei no jidai : tanpen shosetsu o yomu.