Janet Ruth Scheff

1932 - 2017
Dr. Janet Ruth Scheff, originally of Brooklyn, NY, died surrounded by family on November 6, 2017 at the Roland Park Place assisted living community in Baltimore, MD, where she lived near her son for the last several years. She was 85 years old.

Born and raised in Brooklyn, NY – daughter of Mary Moss and Daniel Scheff – she graduated from Midwood High School in 1949. She went on to graduate from Brooklyn College of the City University of New York in 1953.

By 1955, she was in Philadelphia where she obtained a Masters in City Planning from the University of Pennsylvania, and later her PhD which culminated in publication of "Client Analysis And Planning Of Public Programs: A Dissertation In City And Regional Planning". While in Philadelphia, she married Dr. Thomas Reiner, and had two children, Salem and Libushe (Lisa) Reiner.

She continued developing theories of city planning with Prof. Pierre Clavel of Cornell University and others. Following her divorce from Professor Reiner, she permanently moved to Puerto Rico, and began an independent, forward-thinking academic career in social planning. She joined the faculty of the Graduate School of Planning at the University of Puerto Rico, Rio Piedras campus in 1972, and continued for over three decades, retiring in 2005. Although always strongly rooted in Brooklyn, she found her personal and professional home in Puerto Rico. Her social planning theories were unique and stood out in a field dominated by men and quantitative analysis.

While permanently at the University of Puerto Rico, she published several papers through Columbia University's Graduate School of Architecture and Planning, in 1978 "Needs Assessment in Human Services Planning", and in 1982, "Deinstitutionalization and The Sheltering Capacity of Neighborhoods".

Her focus later included immigration issues for Puerto Ricans, and in 1997 co-authored an innovative article with her friend and colleague, Prof. David Hernández, "La Biografía De Movimiento Frecuente: El Caso De Puerto Rico, ¿Pueblo Marginal O De Vanguardia?" (The Biography of Frequent Movement: The Case of Puerto Rico; People on the Margins or People in the Vanguard?") in the Inter American University of Puerto Rico's Revista/Review Interamericana.

Throughout her years as a professor, she worked closely with many Doctoral students and colleagues who admired her intellectual footprint as an innovative humanistic thinker, her social consciousness, and her defining work as a woman in a male-dominated academy. She loved Puerto Rico, the ocean, the sunshine, the warmth of the people. She found a special place in Loiza Aldea, where she and Prof. Rafael Corrada her partner of many years, built a home on the waterfront.

Janet Scheff is survived by her son, Salem and his wife Dana, her daughter Lisa, and grandchildren, Daniel, Eleanor and Abigail as well as a cadre of close friends, family and colleagues who miss her. By her request, no memorial service will be held. In lieu of flowers, contributions may be made in her name to The Puerto Rican Legal Defense and Education Fund at http://latinojustice.org, bridging Puerto Rico and New York, education and advocacy.