Harry Max Neff

RALEIGH - Harry Max Neff departed this life on December 30, 2025. Born June 19, 1933, in Putnam County, Indiana, to Samuel and Victoria Neff, he grew up in the small town of Greencastle. Harry served in the US Navy, received a B.A. in Sociology from Indiana, volunteered in the Peace Corps in Chile, and earned a M.A. in Applied Linguistics at American University in Cairo, Egypt. He had a distinguished career as an ESL (English as a Second Language) teacher, internationally and in the US. In 1974, Harry moved to Teheran, Iran, to take an ESL position at Damavand College, where he met his wife of 49 years, Rebeccah Ann Kinnamon. Since 1984, they have lived in Raleigh, NC, where Harry taught at Wake Technical College and enjoyed watching Duke basketball games on television.

Harry was predeceased by his parents and his sister and brother-in-law, Joan and Thamas Osborn. He is survived by Rebeccah; two nephews, Thamas Osborn of Olympia, Washington and Geoffrey Osborn of Grayslake, Illinois; and a niece, Victoria McMillan of Carmel, California.

Following Harry's wishes, his body was donated to an Anatomical Gifts Program with a local college. There will be no service. Memorial gifts may be sent to the Kismet Fund, a legacy fund he and Rebeccah established at the Community Foundation of Western North Carolina, 4 Vanderbilt Park Drive, Suite 300, Asheville, NC 28803. Harry's ashes will be scattered in Carolina Memorial Sanctuary in Mills River, NC.

Arrangements by Bryan-Lee Funeral Home of Raleigh. Online condolences may be made at www.bryan-leefuneralhome.com