Fred Phillips

His final moments were spent with his family, exchanging mutual words of love. After a long life, the last years of which he spent living in the Roosevelt Island apartment he had shared with his beloved late wife Dea and raised his two daughters, Fred succumbed to a brief illness.

Fred was a consummate New Yorker, who was born in the Bronx in 1937, lived and worked in Brooklyn, lived in Manhattan, passed away in Queens, and will be buried on Staten Island.

He was a devoted and loving husband and father, who doted on his twin daughters and the love of his life, Dorothea, who predeceased him in 2011.

A civil servant for the state of NY for decades, after his retirement, Fred devoted his life to writing poetry, collecting books, lecturing at conventions and universities, and corresponding with friends from around the world.

A self-described bibliomaniac, he founded the Ancient and Honourable Order of the Drowned Rat, a society for book lovers. He was active in the Society for Creative Anachronisms from the 1960s into the 1980s and in NYC Science Fiction Fandom; he was a prolific reader and writer of Amateur Press Association publications, and he was a published poet of two volumes of Weird Poetry. His personal connections expanded throughout the world, befriending fellow Weird Poets and authors, particularly fans of H.P. Lovecraft and J.R.R. Tolkien.

He is survived by his twin daughters, Tavie and Kirsten; his sister-in-law Joan Nissen; son-in-law-Sean Murphy; and many beloved friends.

A Memorial Service will take place on Monday, September 7 at 2:00 o'clock at Riverside Memorial Chapel. The service will be available via Zoom.

In lieu of flowers, donations may be made to the New York Public Library.