Fred Stott died Friday 12/1/2006 at the Lahey Clinic in Burlington. He was 89. After retiring from a 31-year career as the secretary of Phillips Academy in Andover, Frederic A. Stott had new business cards printed. They were simple, bearing only his name, phone number, and one word: advocate. “Toward the end of his career in nonprofit development, my father hit on a word that captured what he aspired to and accomplished both professionally and personally,” his son, Frederic “Sandy” Stott of Concord wrote in remarks he prepared for his father’s memorial service.
Mr. Stott, who in addition to devoting much of his lifetime to education advocacy was known for his fund-raising for politics and conservation and outdoor recreation. Born in Taylor Hall on the campus of Phillips Academy in 1917 to an English teacher and his wife, Mr. Stott was known as Phillips Academy’s “native son.” He graduated from the academy in 1936 and enrolled at Amherst College, from which he received a bachelor’s degree in 1940.
Mr. Stott began teaching biology, US history, and civics at Governor Dummer Academy in South Byfield the same year, but by 1942 had decided the classroom was not his calling, said his son, Sandy.
In 1942 he enlisted in the Marines and was commissioned as a second lieutenant. He saw action in the invasions of Roi-Namur, Saipan, Tinian, and Iwo Jima. He was wounded at Saipan and in 1945 suffered a shrapnel injury to his leg at Iwo Jima, at which time he was discharged as a captain. Mr. Stott was awarded two Purple Hearts, a Bronze Star, and a Navy Cross.
He returned from the Pacific Theater a changed, more self-assured man, his son said. “World War II had a profound effect on him. He and five other [former Marines] got together and thought they wanted to discover a way to serve the country in peacetime.” Together they began to work for a political action committee in Los Angeles. While in California, Mr. Stott proposed via long distance to Georganne “Nan” Soutar, a schoolmate of a sister attending Smith College whom he had met after returning from the war. The couple were married in 1946 . They returned to Massachusetts in 1950 when Mr. Stott accepted a position as secretary at Phillips.
His primary responsibilities were alumni relations and fund-raising, said David Chase of Andover, a friend and spokesman for Phillips Academy. “He was extraordinarily good in all those areas,” Chase said. “In fact in the late 1950s he ran a capital campaign that brought in more than $6 million, then a record for a prep school.”
Mr. Stott’s wife shared his love for the outdoors and in 1965 the couple took a 38-day trip to Mount Everest and climbed the neighboring, 19,000-foot peak of Mount Pumori.
Mr. Stott retired in 1981, the year his wife, Nan, died of cancer. He married Susan Garth (Comstock), an employee of the Phillips Academy he met through a mutual friend, his son said.
In addition to his son and wife, Mr. Stott leaves another son, Peter C. of Alexandria, N.H.; two daughters, Sandra Comstock of London, Ontario, and Anne Thiam of Miami, Fla; and seven grandchildren.
Memorial gifts can be made to the “Fred Stott Endowment Fund – AMC” and sent to 5 Joy Street Boston, MA 02108.