He received his undergraduate degree from the Eastern Nazarene College in 1930 and his graduate education at Boston University in 1931.
While president of NNC from 1952 to 1973, Riley led an ambitious academic program to expand and professionalize the Christian liberal arts college.
His Campus Plateau 1970 program added a number of new doctorates to the faculty, helped fund several new buildings, and clearly strengthened the college's reputation in the Pacific Northwest.
Riley was particularly successful in encouraging Nazarenes of the Northwest to increase their financial support of the regional denominational college.
The Golden Stairs (Christian Service Training) Beacon Hill Press 1956 This Holy Estate-Guidance in Christian Homemaking: Beacon Hill Press: 1970 Nazarene Theological Dictionary: Contributor Faith and Imagination: Essays on Evangelicals in Literature : 1985, 2012 The John E. Riley Library at Northwest Nazarene University is named in his honor.