Peter Ganner Fradley, 91, Westport

Posted 11/7/18

Peter Ganner Fradley, a retired editorial writer for The Providence Journal, died in New Paltz, NY, on October 23, 2018, after a short illness due to complications from surgery. He was 91. He lived …

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Peter Ganner Fradley, 91, Westport

Posted

Peter Ganner Fradley, a retired editorial writer for The Providence Journal, died in New Paltz, NY, on October 23, 2018, after a short illness due to complications from surgery. He was 91. He lived in Westport Point, Mass., from 1986-2014 and with his family in Barrington, RI, for 32 years prior.

Born June 21, 1927, he was a native of Bronxville, NY and a graduate of Bronxville High School, Class of 1945. He served in the Army of the United States in 1945-46 as a medical and surgical technician, achieving the rank of Technician Fourth Class. He was stationed at Tilton General Hospital, Fort Dix, NJ, and Thomas M. England General Hospital, Atlantic City, NJ. His interest in medicine, inspired during that period, carried over to his work as a journalist. Health care became his primary editorial interest and led to two years of consulting work for the Rhode Island Department of Health 1987-89.

A graduate of Brown University, Class of 1950, he earned a BA degree in English, wrote for The Brown Daily Herald and was a member of Phi Delta Theta fraternity from which he later resigned in opposition to a discriminatory clause in its charter.

Mr. Fradley was a journalist throughout his career, furthering his education at Columbia University, New York University and Providence College. From 1966 until his retirement in June, 1987 he was a member of the Journal’s editorial board specializing in the social sciences. For more than a decade he also served as editor of The Journal’s letters-to-the-editor column. He was a frequent contributor to the In Perspective column on the Op-Ed Page, wrote occasional signed columns on civil rights, health care, welfare, education and other social concerns of the day and, for several years in the 1970’s, wrote an Outdoor column in The Sunday Journal’s Leisure magazine. In the late 70’s Mr. Fradley was a member of the Board of Editors of the Brown Alumni Monthly. In 1982 he won first prize for editorial writing awarded by the New England Associated Press News Executives Association.

In retirement he fulfilled a lifelong dream to spend 6 months (fall ’89-spring’90) in a one-room cabin in Porter, Maine, emulating his hero, Henry David Thoreau, where he engaged in creative writing and studying literature. In 1996 he was awarded first prize in the Westport Harvest Festival Poetry Contest. He served on the Westport Personnel Board (1993-95), secretary of the Westport Arts Council (1997-2000), VP of Friends of the Westport Library, and a member of Friends of the Westport Council on Aging and Westport Historical Society. In 2003 the collection of 75 In Perspective columns were published that Mr. Fradley had written for the Journal between 1963 and 1972. In August of 2018 the Fradleys celebrated their 65th wedding anniversary.

His lifelong love of nature and the out-of-doors encompassed family camping, hiking, gardening and as a member of The Thoreau Society devoted to the works of the poet-philosopher-naturalist Henry David Thoreau.

He is survived by his partner in life, Joan Creedon Fradley of New Paltz, NY; a son Kenneth, of Key West, Fla., two daughters, Joanne O’Brien of Pine Bush, NY and Amy (David Strickland) of Victor, Idaho; grandchildren, Laurence Peter O’Brien (Samantha O’Brien) and Anjelica Whitney O’Brien; and a great grandson, Laurence Elliot O’Brien.

Memorial services were held at Woodland Pond in New Paltz, NY on October 27, 2018. Burial will be in Beech Grove Cemetery in Westport at a date to be determined. In lieu of flowers, donations may be made to the Friends of the Westport Council on Aging, 75 Reed Road, Westport, MA 02790.

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