Lewis P. Fickett, Jr. ’47

Lewis P. Fickett, Jr. ’47 died on May 17, 2016, in Fredericksburg, Virginia.

(The following was published in The Portland Press Herald/Maine Sunday Telegram on May 22, 2016):

FREDERICKSBURG, Va. – Dr. Lewis P. Fickett Jr., 89, passed away on the evening of Tuesday, May 17, 2016, at Mary Washington Hospital in Fredericksburg after a brief illness. He was born on May 28, 1926, in Winthrop, Mass., to Phyllis L. MacPherson Fickett and Lewis P. Fickett Sr.

Following his graduation from Portland High School, he enrolled in Bowdoin College in the summer of 1943 but left shortly after his 18th birthday to volunteer for the U.S. Navy in June 1944, serving for two years in the Pacific on an LSM, including combat duty in the Battle of Okinawa. He returned to Bowdoin in 1946, graduated first in his class in 1948 and enrolled in Harvard Law School, graduating in 1952. He returned to Harvard to study government and economics, completing his Ph.D. in 1956. He then joined the U.S. Foreign Service and served in Washington, D.C.; Bonn, Germany; and Algiers, Algeria. He accepted an appointment to the faculty at the University of Mary Washington and taught political science there from 1963 until 2001.

He was elected to the Virginia House of Delegates in 1973 and served four terms, advocating for, among other matters, free textbooks for Virginia school children, protections for teachers and workers, and greater state support for education.

He is survived by his wife of 46 years, Dr. Martha Elaine Van Zandt Fickett; his son Lewis Fickett III (Dr. Elzbieta Bolesta); two daughters, Karin Fickett (William Wandriska) and Sybil Fickett-Jones; two grandchildren, Emma Jones and Evan Jones; his younger brother, Col. Richard Knight Fickett (Shirley Fickett); and several nieces and nephews.

He was preceded in death by his younger brother, William Alden Fickett.