Erik Wiegardt
Erik Wiegardt (1945- ) was born in Walla Walla, Washington, USA, and lived most of his life on the Pacific Rim. Education in his formative years was in Protestant parochial schools in rural towns in Oregon and California. Higher education included Portland State University, where he received Bachelor's Degrees in Arts & Letters and Social Science; the Oregon Military Academy, where he was commissioned as a Second Lieutenant, Infantry; and the University of Oregon, where he received a Master of Fine Arts Degree in Sculpture with a thesis in Sound Sculpture.
Erik has worked in a number of occupations, including laboratory analyst for the Walter Reed Army Institute of Research and for North American Aviation where he performed quality control studies on the escape rocket module of the Apollo Moon Rockets. He is a Vietnam Era War veteran and received a Certificate of Special Congressional Recognition for participation in Operation White Coat, a biological warfare unit.
Other employment includes mortician's assistant, insurance executive, baker, restaurant waiter, Graduate Teaching Fellow at the University of Oregon, English teacher in Japan, display designer for Macy’s and Nordstrom, advertising copy writer, and Senior Probation Officer for the County of San Diego, California.
Erik is the Founder of the Stoic community of New Stoa (May, 1996) and was its Director until May of 2011. He was the Founder of Registry Report (May 2007), the eMagazine, where he was Editor until November of 2010. He was the Founder of the College of Stoic Philosophers (July, 2008) and is currently the Scholarch of that school. He is author of several eBooks on Stoicism that are freely available at the College library. Erik lives in San Diego, California, where he regularly practices all three forms of Stoic meditation.