A lifetime member of the Andover community, Frederic Stott ’36 died on December 1 at the age of 89, due to complications following an abdominal aneurism.
Often called “Mr. Andover,” Mr. Stott was born in Taylor Hall and grew up on the PA campus. His father was an English teacher, and Mr. Stott went on to graduate from Andover in 1936. He then attended Amherst College, graduating in 1940.
Mr. Stott began his military career in 1942. He was eventually appointed as a Major in the Marine Corps and fought in the Pacific Ocean during the Second World War. He took part in several important battles of the campaign, such as the invasion of Iwo Jima. He earned two Purple Hearts, a Bronze Star, and the Navy Cross.
After the war, Stott married Nan Soutar in 1946. They had four children over the course of their marriage.
After teaching briefly at Governor’s Academy, Mr. Stott returned to Andover in 1950 to work in the office of Alumni Affairs. After 22 years, Mr. Stott became Secretary of the Academy. At this point he began fundraising for the Bicentennial campaign. He set the campaign’s goal of $50 million, eventually collecting $52 million – a record high in secondary school fundraising.
Victor Henningsen, Instructor in History, who worked on the campaign with Mr. Stott said, “He was efficient, he was organized, and he was a good person to work for.”
Mr. Henningsen reflected on the little-known fact that Mr. Stott was an advocate of gender equality in the office. He hired women to work for him immediately after the Phillips-Abbott merger in 1973, when other faculty members were still discriminating against females as employees.
Outside of Phillips Academy, Mr. Stott had many other interests. He was an avid mountain climber and a baseball enthusiast.
Ruth Quattlebaum, School Archivist, said, “[Mr. Stott] could make a very dull game [of baseball] into an interesting problem the players had to solve.”
Mr. Stott was also active in local politics. Massachusetts State Senator Sue Tucker, with whom Mr. Stott had worked, said, “[Stott] was on my ‘top ten list’ of most remarkable people I have known. He possessed a genuine curiosity about all manner of people, places and ideas. That curiosity, combined with his generous and kind spirit, made being in his company a delight.”
In his retirement, Mr. Stott pursued his passions for the outdoors. He had climbed to the summit of Mt. Everest in 1965 with his wife, and his enthusiasm for the environment continued through his membership in the Appalachian Mountain Club (AMC).
In 2004, Mr. Stott published a book about his experiences with the AMC, On and Off the Trail: Seventy Years with the Appalachian Mountain Club.
Mr. Stott also loved dogs and had a fascination with sled dog competitions.
“He thought dogs were about the best beings on the planet anyways, but when he went to check on the dog sled races, he discovered that men, women and dogs could all compete on the same playing field,” his son, Sandy, said to the Andover Townsman. “It was a model for how he thought the world could be.”
Mr. Stott’s quirky spirit was further acclaimed. Mrs. Quattlebaum said, “Every year there was a Christmas faculty party and he would always show up in a red dinner jacket. He was always the most vivacious dancer on the floor.”
Mr. Stott received a number of awards from many different organizations. The town of Andover honored him for his work on many committees. His alma mater, Amherst College, acknowledged him with its Distinguished Service Award for Alumni Activities. He received the Andover Chamber of Commerce Community Service Award in 1994. The AMC honored him on multiple occasions as well.
A memorial service was held in Mr. Stott’s honor in Cochran Chapel on December 9.
Mr. Henningsen said, “[Cochran Chapel] was packed, I looked around at people and they all had something in common in addition to knowing Fred Stott: at one point or another Fred Stott tried to get them involved in something.”
