Freidel, Roosevelt Scholar, Dies at 76

Warren Professor of History emeritus Frank B. Freidel Jr., a leading historian of 20th century America, died of pneumonia Monday at the Stillman Infirmary. He was 76.

"For many years, he was a key figure in the History Department instruction," said Adams University Professor Bernard Bailyn. "He was an excellent lecturer, very well-organized, very useful."

Freidel, who lectured at Harvard for 26 years before retiring in 1981, was an expert on the life of Franklin D. Roosevelt '04.

Freidel published six biographies of the former president, the last in 1990, and was working on a seventh at the time of his death.

"What I found striking about him as a scholar is the wide range of his interest, though this may sound strange about someone who spent his entire life writing a biography of Franklin Roosevelt," said Alan M. Brinkley, a former associate professor of history at Harvard and one of Freidel's best known students.

"He showed great interest in his students' work," Brinkley said.

At Harvard, Freidel taught courses in American history and modern American political thought. He was also the first professor at Harvard to teach a course in Afro-American studies.

"When the department needed someone to teach Afro-American studies and had no one to teach it, Frank volunteered to do so," said Warren Professor of History emeritus David H. Donald.

"He was for many years the person to whom people with unorthodox projects would go," said Brinkley, who is now a professor of history at Columbia University. "He sponsored [the book] All God's Dangers, an oral history of a Black sharecropper, at a time when it was hard to imagine anyone at Harvard would accept it."

The book, written by a Harvard student under Freidel's guidance, later won a National Book Award, Brinkley said.

But Freidel, a child of the Great Depression, was best known for his work about the life of America's longest-serving president.

In 1990, he published a 710-page biography entitled Franklin D. Roo- sevelt: A Rendezvous with Destiny.Freidel was working on a short biography ofRoosevelt for college students when he died.

"Most of the people who are teaching recenthistory at universities and colleges all over thecountry were trained by him here at Harvard," saidDonald.

Freidel received his bachelors degree from theUniversity of Southern California in 1937 and hisdoctorate from the University of Washington in1942. He taught at various colleges before comingto Harvard in 1955.

Brinkley said Freidel's generosity anddedication were the reasons for his popularityamong graduate and undergraduate students.

"On a personal level, he was extremely warm andhelpful to his students, invited us to his homeoften, but on an associative level he reallyagonized over the plight of his students'employment," Brinkley said.

And Susan Hunt, typist of Freidel's last book,said, "He was one of the nicest and kindest peoplearound. He really will be missed."

Freidel is survived by his second wife,Madeleine, of Belmont; his mother, Edith, ofOrange, Calif.; a brother; three sisters; fourdaughters; three sons; and eight grandchildren.

Funeral services will be private, but amemorial service at Harvard is being planned

"Most of the people who are teaching recenthistory at universities and colleges all over thecountry were trained by him here at Harvard," saidDonald.

Freidel received his bachelors degree from theUniversity of Southern California in 1937 and hisdoctorate from the University of Washington in1942. He taught at various colleges before comingto Harvard in 1955.

Brinkley said Freidel's generosity anddedication were the reasons for his popularityamong graduate and undergraduate students.

"On a personal level, he was extremely warm andhelpful to his students, invited us to his homeoften, but on an associative level he reallyagonized over the plight of his students'employment," Brinkley said.

And Susan Hunt, typist of Freidel's last book,said, "He was one of the nicest and kindest peoplearound. He really will be missed."

Freidel is survived by his second wife,Madeleine, of Belmont; his mother, Edith, ofOrange, Calif.; a brother; three sisters; fourdaughters; three sons; and eight grandchildren.

Funeral services will be private, but amemorial service at Harvard is being planned