Norbert Franz Riedl was born in Eisenstadt, Austria, on February 16, 1930. While studying at the University of Vienna, he spent a year at the University of New Mexico as a Smith-Mundt exchange student (1951-1952). It was during this visit that Riedl formed his lifelong attachment to the United States. He graduated from the University of Vienna with his PhD in 1954, and returned to the United States with his wife, Joan (an American whom Riedl met while both were studying in Vienna), in 1956. The couple settled in Princeton, New Jersey, where Riedl worked for the Educational Testing Service (ETS). Six years later, Riedl accepted a position in the University of Tennessee's Department of Anthropology studying folklore. He published several papers on folk culture studies in Journal of American Folklore and Tennessee Folklore Society Bulletin. He remained at UT as a professor until his untimely death on March 25, 1975.