Chet Orloff
{{short description|American historian}}
Chester Lloyd "Chet" Orloff (born February 22, 1949) is a historian, writer and professor in Portland, Oregon, called "one of [Oregon's] favorite history teachers" by The Oregonian.{{cite news|title=Oregon's history teacher (editorial)|date=November 13, 2000|work=The Oregonian}}
Early life
Orloff was born in Bellingham, Washington to business financier Monford Orloff and Janice Diamond Orloff, and raised in Washington and Portland, Oregon. His brother is physicist Jon Orloff. Orloff attended Lincoln High School,{{cite news|title=The Director, Chet Orloff|date=December 3, 1995|work=The Oregonian|page=L10}} went to Boston University to prepare for law school,{{cite news|title=The Future of the Past|last=Rubenstein|first=Sura|date=December 3, 1995|work=The Oregonian|page=L1}} then transferred to the University of Oregon where he ran under legendary track coach Bill Bowerman. Orloff studied anthropology at University of Oregon,{{cite news|url=https://news.google.com/newspapers?id=NTsRAAAAIBAJ&sjid=IeEDAAAAIBAJ&pg=4700,126781&dq=chet+orloff&hl=en|title=Eugene's ecology-aware school kids keep Jaycee's anti-litter beast well fed|last=Wyant|first=Dan|date=November 1, 1970|work=Eugene Register-Guard|page=13|accessdate=May 14, 2013}} graduating in 1972 with a degree in archaeology.{{cite news|title=Chet Orloff, Executive Director, Oregon Historical Society, on his book-lined library|last=Mershon|first=Helen L.|date=September 17, 1997|work=The Oregonian|page=2}} Orloff later received a master's degree in history and historical agency administration from Portland State University.
Career
Orloff enlisted in the Peace Corps and lived and taught in Afghanistan with his wife until 1975. They returned to Portland where he interned at the Oregon Historical Society (OHS), then became assistant director from 1982 to 1986.{{cite news|title=Historical Society praises new executive director|last=Rubenstein|first=Sura|date=November 11, 1991|work=The Oregonian|page=B5}} In 1987 he left OHS and founded the Ninth Judicial Circuit Historical Society in Pasadena, California.{{cite news|title=Role of far-reaching Ninth Judicial Circuit Court spawns publications|last=Pintarich|first=Paul|date=January 23, 1990|work=The Oregonian|page=D6}} In 1991, he returned to OHS as executive director, succeeding Bill Tramposch.{{cite news|title=Former assistant to head Historical Society|last=Tomlinson|first=Stuart|date=November 7, 1991|work=The Oregonian|page=B3}}{{cite news|url=http://www.oregonlive.com/portland/index.ssf/2010/01/portland_state_prof_takes_on_a.html|title=Portland State prof takes on a new kind of museum: One on the Internet using a Wikipedia model |last=Saker|first=Anne|date=January 11, 2010|work=The Oregonian|accessdate=May 14, 2013}} He held this position for ten years, retiring at the end of 2000.{{cite news|title=Orloff will leave job at Historical Society|last=Leeson|first=Fred|date=November 8, 2000|work=The Oregonian|page=C9}} Orloff was the founder and editor of the journal Western Legal History and was the Senior Editor of the Oregon Historical Quarterly.
In 2001, Orloff assembled a Columbia River maritime museum in a concourse at the Portland International Airport. It was "98 percent complete" as of the September 11 attacks, which limited visitors to ticketed passengers.{{cite news|title=Museum in a hub of inactivity|last=Stewart|first=Bill|date=October 10, 2001|work=The Oregonian|page=D1}}
Orloff is an adjunct professor of Urban Studies and Planning at Portland State University and an instructor at the University of Oregon School of Architecture. He is also principal of Oregon History Works, a consulting firm for historical applications in design and development,{{Citation needed|date=January 2010}} president of Museum of the City{{cite web|url=http://www.museumofthecity.org/content/meet-museum-board|title=Meet the Museum Board|work=Museum of the City|accessdate=28 November 2011|url-status=dead|archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20111023101314/http://www.museumofthecity.org/content/meet-museum-board|archivedate=23 October 2011}} and has served on the Portland Planning Commission, Portland Landmarks Commission, Regional Arts and Culture Counsel, Portland Parks Board, Center City 2035 Plan Committee, (co-chair), and other various assignments.{{Citation needed|date=November 2011}}
=Selected publications=
; Author/editor
- Western Legal History Volume 2, Number 2, Chet Orloff, editor, 1989, Ninth Judicial Circuit Historical Society
- Portland's Public Art: A Guide and History, Norma Catherine Gleason and Chet Orloff, 1986, {{ISBN|0-87595-059-0}}
- Willamette Heights: a history, 1980
- Gifts that preserve Oregon's past for the future, 1980
; Chapter and article contributions
- [https://books.google.com/books?id=sCqPiH5-5-wC&dq=%22Museums+of+Cities+and+the+Future+of+Cities%22+orloff&pg=PA27 Museums of Cities and the Future of Cities], in Robert R. Macdonald's City Museums and City Development, 2008, {{ISBN|0-7591-1180-4}}
- If Zealously Promoted by All: The Push and Pull of Portland Parks History, in The Portland Edge: Challenges and Successes In Growing Communities, 2008, Connie Ozawa, editor, {{ISBN|1-55963-695-5}}
- [http://muse.jhu.edu/journals/yearbook_of_the_association_of_pacific_coast_geographers/v066/66.1orloff.html Maintaining Eden: John Charles Olmsted and the Portland Park System], in Yearbook of the Association of Pacific Coast Geographers 66, 2004
Personal life
References
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Category:21st-century American historians
Category:21st-century American male writers
Category:Boston University Terriers men's track and field athletes
Category:Lincoln High School (Portland, Oregon) alumni
Category:Oregon Ducks men's track and field athletes
Category:Writers from Bellingham, Washington
Category:Writers from Portland, Oregon
Category:Portland State University faculty