Chinoy, Ely, 1921-1975

Ely Chinoy was born on September 5, 1921 in Newark, New Jersey to Sam and Bella Chinoy. He received his B.A. from the University of Newark (now Rutgers University) in 1942 summa cum laude. In the years following he held teaching positions at the Newark College of Engineering, Washington Square College of New York University and at the University of Toronto where he held the 1946 - 1947 Social Science Research Council Fellowship. In 1951 he became an instructor of Sociology at Smith College. Two years later he received his Ph.D. from Columbia University.

Chinoy's first book, Automobile Workers and the American Dream, was published in 1955 and became a landmark study of the factory and, in particular, the description and analysis of behavioral psychology of assembly line workers. Other books produced by Chinoy include Sociological Perspective (1954), Society (1961) and The Urban Future (1973). His texts have been translated into various languages including Portuguese, Spanish, Italian, Serbo-Croatian and Japanese.

Professionally, Chinoy was incredibly active. From 1959 to 1960 he served as an assistant editor of the American Sociological Review, becoming an associate editor from 1961 until 1964. In 1963 he travelled to England and served as a Fulbright professor at the University of Leicester in addition to lecturing at Oxford, the London School of Economics and at several research instituted associated with former Yugoslavic universities. He was a member of the American Sociological Association, the Eastern Sociological Association, the American Association of University Professors and the American Civil Liberties Union. In 1971 he resumed his Fulbright activities and travelled to the Philippines to lecture. Internally, Chinoy played an important role on several committees, including serving as the President of the Smith College chapter of the American Association of University Professors and the special committee on co-education in 1970 - 1971, which recommended that Smith College remain a women's college.

On April 21, 1975 Chinoy was killed returning home from a speaking engagement in Boston, Massachusetts. His car veered off the road, struck the guardrail and overturned several times. He was 53 years old.

Chinoy's wife, Helen Krich Chinoy (1922 - 2010) was an instructor of Theatre and Speech at Smith College from 1952 until 1986. His son Michael was CNN's Beijing Bureau Chief from 1987 to 1995 during which time he covered the 1989 events at Tiananmen Square. In 1995 he taught as a visiting professor at Smith College. Chinoy's daughter Claire attended Radcliffe and later married David Jones, a flamenco artist known popularly as 'Gypsy Dave'.

From the guide to the Ely Chinoy papers 42., 1921 - 1975, 1953 - 1977, (Smith College Archives)