William “Bill” Hayward Frederick, age 81, died in Owls Head, Maine after a hard fought battle with a rare and aggressive form of cancer, neuroendocrine carcinoma. He spent the final months of his life eating lobster and watching lobster boats, seagulls, harbor porpoises, and the beautiful snowy winter weather along the coast in the state that he explored many times with his wife Muriel (Henderson) Frederick who preceded him in death in 2009.

The attributes that Bill will most likely be best remembered for is his love of food and his generous hospitality. A consummate world traveler and accomplished amateur chef, Bill would make a b-line for a local market upon arrival in a new destination. He made a quick study of available ingredients and area cuisine before whipping up some scrumptious feast. He brought all of these experiences home much to the delight of many a dinner guest in Athens, Ohio where he lived from 1973 until 2020.

Born on 10 September 1941 in Massachusetts, Bill attended Noble and Greenough primary and secondary schools where he won awards in biology, chemistry, and essay writing, was active in the Drama Club (Co-President) and French Club (Treasurer) and was Editor in chief of The Nobleman. Bill stayed in touch with many of his classmates who remember him fondly as a very clever and smart person with a great sense of humor and an infectious laugh…it's difficult to forget such a friend.

Bill took an undergraduate degree at Yale while studying Southeast Asia under Harry J. Benda. Then before entering a PhD program Bill and Muriel moved to Kobe, Japan where he taught at the Canadian Academy while Muriel acted as dorm mother. Their daughter Anita was born while they were living in Japan. They went on to live in the Netherlands, Indonesian, and finally Hawaii.

Once in Hawaii, Bill received his Ph.D., at the Univerisity of Hawaii at Manoa where he studied with Robert Van Niel and Walter Vella. From Hawaii, Bill and family moved to Althen, Ohio where he served as Foreign Student Advisor at Ohio University (OU) from 1973 to 1979, and taught at OU from 1973 until his retirement in 2010. His son Jason was born in Athens. During this time Bill received a Fulbright Scholarship to complete work at Gadga Mada University in Yogyakarta, Central Java in the 77/78 and 78/79 academic years and he co-founded the national Southeast Asian Studies Summer Institute in 1983. In addition to his tenure at OU Bill was also a teaching or research fellow in Washington, D.C., Japan, Australia, Denmark, the Netherlands, and Indonesia.

Frederick is author of Visions and Heat: The Making of the Indonesian Revolution, co-author and co-editor of the Encyclopedia of Indonesia in the Pacific War, co-author of The Encyclopedia Britannica entry on Southeast Asia, co-author and co-editor of the sixth edition of Indonesia: A Country Study and editor of Not Out of Hate: A Novel of Burma by Ma Ma Lay. Bill also authored more than 40 chapters, articles, edited works, translations, editorial essays, and the like. At the time of his death he was working with Harry Poeze, a senior researcher at KITLV in the Netherlands, preparing a two-volume collection of primary sources for Southeast Asian history, and a translation of Tan Malaka's last writings (1948-49).

Bill is survived by his daughter Anita Hayward Frederick of Owls Head, Maine, his son Jason Wyatt Frederick and daughter-in-law, Maria Frederick of Lakewood, Ohio, and his grandsons Gian and Simon Frederick, also of Lakewood, Ohio.

Memorial has not yet been scheduled. In lieu of flowers please consider a donation to the Neuroendocrine Tumor Research Foundation, www.netrf.org.

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