Long-time MSUMC parishioner Ernest S. Frerichs, 88, passed away quietly and peacefully on November 11, 2013. A native of Tottenville, Staten Island, New York, he maintained a connection with his birthplace throughout his life. He was married to MSUMC parishioner Sarah Cutts Frerichs for 59 years and had resided for 35 years in Providence and variously in Warren, North Providence, Barrington, and Cranston.
He was educated in the public school system of New York City and entered Brown University in 1942. From 1943 to 1946 he served in the United States Army as a Sergeant in the 100th Infantry Division receiving the Combat Infantryman’s Badge and the Bronze Star Medal for his participation in the Battle of the Vosges Mountains in eastern France. Re-entering Brown he completed an A.B. in 1948 and an A.M. in Government in the Harvard Graduate School in 1949. In 1992 the Hebrew Union College of New York conferred on him an honorary Doctor of Humane Letters degree. He received an S.T.B. degree from the Boston University School of Theology in 1952 and a Ph.D. in Hebrew Bible from the Boston University Graduate School in 1957. The School of Theology conferred in 1987 an Alumni Award for Distinguished Service and the Boston University Graduate School conferred in 1994 an Alumni Award for Distinguished Service to the Profession. He was elected to the Rhode Island Heritage Hall of Fame in 2008.
His life was lived in three successive occupations: the professional life of the parish ministry; academic life as professional teacher, scholar, and university administrator; and philanthropic work as executive director and president of a family foundation. Ordained as an Elder in the United Methodist Church in 1952, he served as Associate Pastor and acting Senior Pastor at MSUMC from 1950 to 1960.
In 1953 he entered the faculty of Brown University, earning his way to full professor by 1966. He became Emeritus Professor of Religious Studies and Judaic Studies in 1995. From 1976 to 1982, he served as the Dean of the Brown University Graduate School. In addition to his service at Brown, he served as a visiting professor at the University of Newcastle-upon-Tyne in England, the Boston University School of Theology, and the Albright Institute of Archaeological Research in Jerusalem. He served the Albright Institute as President from 1976 to 1982. He lectured widely in European and British universities in Italy, Germany, Hungary, Czechoslovakia, Poland, Brazil, England, and the former Soviet Union.
His field of scholarship was in the Hebrew Bible and the history of Biblical Interpretation. He edited , co-edited, or authored sixteen books and numerous articles. In 1995 he was invited to become Executive Director of the Dorot Foundation, a family foundation founded in 1958 and assuming its current title in 1978. A New York foundation the Dorot offices were moved to Providence in 1995. The Foundation has a long history in Jewish higher education reflected in the endowment of professorial chairs in Judaic Studies, of travel grants for American students studying in Israel, and for its fellowship program, the Dorot Fellowship in Israel, devoted to strengthening leadership in the American Jewish community.
His friends and family saw him modest, humble, compassionate, and gentle. His life is best characterized in the title of a festschrift presented to him by friends and colleagues, Hesed-ve-Emet. He was equally at home in Jewish and Christian circles. He knew no enemy, but gave great encouragement to all, especially those in need, preferring to think of himself as an enabler.
His family was a central concern and focus of his life. He was preceded in death by his loving wife of 59 years, Sarah; his son John and his daughter Betsy. He is survived by his son, David, of Warren, RI, and David’s wife, Barbara; grandsons David, Jr. and wife, Heather of East Providence; Justin of Los Angeles; granddaughters April of Los Angeles and Marcia Pedini of East Providence; and ten great-grandchildren.