Fred died April 14, 2015, after a long battle with cancer.
Born in New York City, he came to Princeton from Mercersburg Academy. Fred was a member of Campus Club, Triangle Club, and the Glee Club. He played football and was in the concert band and orchestra.
Having majored in the special program in the humanities, Fred went on to Harvard to earn a doctorate and begin an academic career that took him to Stanford, Wisconsin, and Oberlin before he settled into a long and distinguished role in the history department at Amherst. His special interest was medieval France, and his book Ermengard of Narbonne and the World of the Troubadors won a number of prizes. When it was translated into French, the mayor of Narbonne presented Fred with the keys to the city.
In retirement, Fred won a spot singing tenor with the Boston Symphony Orchestra and built a geothermal system for his old New England farmhouse. In recent years he also became involved in a massive scholarly study of the impact of climate change on European social and political structures from 300 to 1500 A.D. The project, which was well underway when he died, will be completed by an international team of historians and archaeologists.
Survivors include his son, Oren ’81.