Obituary: Frederick William Noonan, 1941-2025

With great sadness we announce the peaceful passing of Frederick William Noonan on January 15, 2025, at the University of Vermont Medical Center in Burlington, after a series of strokes.

Frederick lived a full, international life, sharing his vast knowledge and deep passion for classical music with all who crossed his path. His wit, generosity and infectious joie de vivre left an indelible mark on all he encountered. He will be deeply missed.

Born in Middlebury on June 13, 1941, he grew up in Addison on his family’s dairy farm. He loved music and books from an early age and often read novels while doing his field work. He enjoyed telling the story of how he once drove the tractor into a ditch but finished the chapter he was reading before walking to the barn to get help. It’s hard to imagine now, but he and his sister, Ellen, used to drive the cows along Route 22A to their summer pasture. During one summer, he and Ellen painted the house while blasting Beethoven from the open windows, taking turns to run inside and flip the record over.

Frederick attended Northfield Mount Hermon School and Amherst College. After graduating, he was drafted into the U.S. Army and sent to the Defense Language Institute in Monterey, Calif., where he chose to study German rather than French, he said, “because it has no silent letters.” He spent several years in the Army Intelligence Corps in Germany, where he forged many dear friendships that endured his entire lifetime.

His time in Europe sparked a desire to travel and see more of his own country. When he returned to the states, he traveled from the East to the West Coast and back again, riding the rails and seeking adventure along the way. He remembered one of the railcars carrying Caterpillar excavators, and he spent part of that ride sitting in the seat of a big yellow backhoe.

He enrolled as a master’s student in English literature at McGill University. Friends remember his apartment, opposite the library, as a vibrant social hub where people were drawn by the sounds of opera, engaging conversation and the comforting aroma of soup constantly simmering on the stove.

Frederick eventually made his way to New York City, taking jobs as a proofreader at Matthew Bender & Co., then as an usher and office worker at Lincoln Center, where he worked his way up to be associate director of programming, a position he held for more than 20 years.

In this position, using his deep love of song and the German language, he developed the most comprehensive lieder series ever presented in America. For the Mozart bicentennial, he cast and produced a remarkable festival of eight early Mozart operas — three of which marked their American premieres. Through his visionary programming for the Mostly Mozart Festival and the Great Performers Series, he introduced many emerging artists, a number of whom would go on to be the leading lights of their generation. Through “Live From Lincoln Center,” he telecast programs with Luciano Pavarotti, Joan Sutherland, Itzhak Perlman and Yo-Yo Ma.

To further immerse in his lifelong passion for Beethoven, Frederick translated the book Beethoven Remembered: The Biographical Notes of Franz Wegeler and Ferdinand Ries. It was the first time the entire book was made available in English, bringing a deeper understanding of the composer’s life and work to a wider English-speaking audience.

After leaving Lincoln Center, he worked as musical director for the 92nd Street Y in New York and as director of Landmark Performances, an organization dedicated to the restoration of the Town Hall in New York City to its former prominence as a classical music venue. He also acted as a member of the jury for the prestigious Wigmore Hall International Song Competition in London.

During his semiretirement Frederick spent time in England, as well as New York. He inherited a greeting card business from his sister in London, the cards specializing in vintage animal illustrations. It was through this venture that he met Richard Fry. Together they grew the business, making it the largest publisher of Louis Wain cat illustrations in the world. Cats were to become a central theme in their lives as they opened their home to more than 50 homeless cats — though not all at the same time! The delight and trauma of readying these needy creatures for adoption cemented the bond between Frederick and Richard. They soon became permanent fixtures in each other’s lives, alternating between the art galleries and antique shops of London and the concert halls and creemee stands of Vermont.

When his mother died, Frederick returned to Vermont to live in the farmhouse where he had grown up. He became active in the classical music scene, joining the Lake Champlain Chamber Music Festival board of directors. He went on to create the LCCMF Art Show to showcase Vermont artists during the festival and to raise funds to support the event. He was so committed to the art show that even after suffering a stroke in June, he was heavily involved in the organization and curation of the event through July and August. Nothing could stop him from presenting artists and sharing their work.

In the last few months, Frederick found joy in the quieter pleasures of life, such as jigsaw puzzles, BBC gardening programs and observing the birds at the feeders. Yet perhaps he was happiest of all tending his flower garden as the sun set behind the Adirondacks, at one with the breathtaking serenity of his beloved Vermont home.

Frederick was predeceased by his parents and his sister, Ellen Noonan. He is survived by his very best friend, Richard Fry; his adored goddaughter, Julia Steinbach; and his extensive lifelong collection of art, curios and artifacts, some of which will be on show at a memorial service to be held later this spring.

This article appears in The Wellness Issue 2025.