Don Riso

DON RICHARD RISO STONE RIDGE- Don Richard Riso, 66, author, counselor, leading authority on the Enneagram personality system, and an influential figure in the human potential movement, died peacefully at his home in Stone Ridge, on Aug. 30, 2012. Raised in New Orleans, he graduated with highest honors in philosophy and English from Spring Hill College in Mobile, Ala., where he was also inducted into the Jesuit academic honor society, Alpha Sigma Nu. He then went on to graduate school at Stanford University as a Ford Foundation Fellow in communications and social psychology. In 1973, while studying at Regis College in Toronto, he encountered some sketchy notes on a theory of personality called the Enneagram. Although the notes did not describe (let alone explain) much about human behavior, something in them seemed to point toward an objective truth about human beings. Don decided to focus his attention on developing the descriptions and rationale of the personality types of the Enneagram, and dedicated the rest of his life to this work, developing new and original Enneagram theories, most notably the Levels of Development within each personality type (how each type is structured into healthy, average, and unhealthy areas of functioning), and the Psychic Structures (visual models that illuminate the psychological activities that occur at each Level of Development for each personality type). He coined much of the terminology of Enneagram theory that is now part of the mainstream teaching. In 1987, he published his first book, Personality Types, with Houghton Mifflin, translated into over twenty languages, and now in a second edition. In 1990, he published his second book, Understanding the Enneagram, also with Houghton Mifflin. In 1991, he was joined by Russ Hudson, who became his teaching partner and co-author of several further books, including The Wisdom of the Enneagram, published by Bantam, widely regarded as the definitive book in the field, and a sensitive and practical combination of psychology and spirituality. Sales of his books long ago exceeded one million copies. With Russ, he also developed many other products and tools, including the Riso-Hudson Enneagram Type Indicator, a leading personality test. At the time of his death, he was working with a team from South Africa in developing a model for effective team building and assessment. In 1986, he created The Enneagram Institute as a vehicle to present trainings and seminars on his work, and in 2002, moved the Institute to its beautiful and special grounds in Stone Ridge which provided the inspiration for his later work and private writings. He was also a founding member of the International Enneagram Association, a former member of the Gurdjieff Foundation, an organization devoted to help seekers of truth actualize their latent potentialities through self-observation and "work on oneself", and a spiritual student of Hameed Ali (A.H. Almaas) in the Ridhwan School. Don taught thousands of students around the world, and was known and greatly loved for his wise and gentle manner. He saw transcending the ego as the gate to every spiritual path, and believed that the Enneagram can show each type what that gate is and how to pass through it. Without real self-knowledge, he taught, it is not possible to awaken to the deeper truths of the soul or to sustain whatever degree of realization we have attained. Don is survived by his partner of over 41 years, Brian L. Taylor, also of Stone Ridge, an attorney with the Los Angeles-based law firm of O'Melveny & Meyers LLP. Don and Brian were married in Lenox, Mass. on Sept. 12, 2008. In addition, Don is survived by his father, Leo J. Riso, of Picayune, Mississippi; his brothers, David of Carriere, Miss., Jeffrey of Covington, La., and Joey, of Palm Springs, Calif.; and thousands and thousands of students world-wide. A public memorial service will be held at a later date.