Tom Reigstad is a fourth-generation Buffalonian, an English professor, and a journalist. After serving as a journalist in the Army, Tom returned to Buffalo to continue newspaper work and to teach writing and literature, first in high school and for most of his career at the university level.

As a soldier, he was awarded the Joint Service Commendation Medal by the Department of Defense for exceptionally meritorious service while assigned duty with the Defense Language Institute from 1970 to 1972, and the New York State Medal of Merit by the Adjutant General, State of New York Commander of all Military and Naval Forces, for meritorious service in direct support of combat operations.

He is a professor emeritus of English at Buffalo State University and was a features writer and copy editor at the Buffalo Courier-Express, whose forerunner, the Buffalo Morning Express, was the newspaper co-owned and co-edited by Mark Twain from 1869 to 1871. Tom was also a copy editor and contributing writer at the Niagara Gazette, a columnist at Business First of Buffalo, and in the mid-1990s, the associate editor and a columnist at Bills Insider, the official magazine of the NFL’s Buffalo Bills.

While at Buffalo State, Tom received a faculty merit award from the Educational Opportunity Program; recognition for outstanding service from the Center for Development of Human Services; the Buffalo State President’s Award for Excellence in Research, Scholarship, and Creativity; and the Award for the Promotion of Respect for Diversity and Individual Differences (twice).

At the annual Red Jacket Awards banquet in 2023, he was honored to receive the Owen B. Augspurger Award for outstanding service to the cause of local history from the Buffalo History Museum.

Tom is a Twain scholar well known for his expertise on Twain’s association with Buffalo and an experienced college writing program administrator, researcher, and teacher. He earned a B.A. in English from the University of Buffalo, an M.A. in literature from the University of Missouri, an M.S. in English education from Canisius University, and a Ph.D. in English instruction (composition/rhetoric) from the University of Buffalo.

From 2016 to 2022, Tom served as a trustee of the Kenmore-Tonawanda Union Free School District Board of Education, including one year as vice president. He is currently a trustee on the Town of Tonawanda Library Board. A lifelong baseball, football, and college basketball fan, Tom is the proud father of two sons, and he resides in Kenmore, New York.