Frederick Walter Bellinger ’44

FRED BELLINGER, born Feb. 12, 1921, died May 22, 1991, after suffering for 18 months from the effects of cardiomyopathy and congestive heart failure.

Fred withdrew from Princeton in his sophomore year, after winning the International College Bridge Championship in 1942. After leaving Princeton he continued his interest in tournament bridge, becoming Life Master No. 474 in 1952. He graduated from the Univ. of Buffalo and studied at La Sorbonne, Univ. of Laval, Canisius College, and the Univ. of Southern Connecticut. Teaching French for 15 years, he became chairman of the language department at Bennett H.S. in Buffalo. Retiring from teaching in 1972, he voluntarily tutored students in English as a foreign language.

Fred moved to Perrysburg, N.Y., and spent 20 years developing a 50acre conservation area around his home. He and his family planted over 30,000 evergreen trees and many shrubs for wildlife surrounding their two ponds. He still continued his own studies, relishing Spanish, Spanish literature, and English literature, and took classes up to the time he was hospitalized.

He is survived by his widow, the former Mildred Reis, whom he married in 1946; two daughters, Linda Moore and Kathryn Feld; and two grandsons, Sean Frederick Moor and Jeremy Bellinger Feld.

While he lost contact with his Class, he never forgot the origin of his lifelong love of language and literature.

The Class of 1944