Frederick Bryce Thomas ’38 died on his 91st birthday, January 8, 2007, in Jekyll Island, Georgia.

He was on born January 8, 1916, in Barton, Vt., and prepared for college at Bradford Academy. He graduated from Bowdoin cum laude with English department high honors after winning Symonds and Drew scholarships in his senior year, and he spent the following summer studying at the University of Birmingham in England under a Longfellow graduate fellowship. He studied English literature at Johns Hopkins University sporadically for 10 years, taking time off to serve in the Army during World War II, where he attained the rank of technical sergeant. He earned his master’s degree at Johns Hopkins in 1948 and a doctorate in English literature at Fordham University in 1966. He taught English literature at Pace College (now Pace University) from 1948 until his retirement in 1988, with a specialty in Chaucer, Shakespeare and 18th-century English literature. In the 1970s, he worked as a self-employed real estate broker; after retiring, he managed a tract of timberland in Vermont with his sons. He served as director of the Vermont Woodland Owners Association, and was a member of the Wells Rotary, Charity Lodge No. 43 in Bradford, Vt., and the American Legion Vermont Post No. 78 in Newbury. He is survived by his wife of 57 years, Miriam Higgenbotham Thomas; three sons, Bruce Thomas, Paul Thomas, and Frederick Bryce Thomas III; and two daughters, Mary Elizabeth Thomas and Elizabeth T. Guest ’84.