Frederick E. Balderston

BALDERSTON--Frederick E. Born August 15, 1923 in Philadelphia, PA. Died October 18, 2007 at home in Berkeley, CA, after a long battle with emphysema. A retired longtime UC Berkeley professor in the Haas School of Business with a lifetime of service to the university, to state government, to promoting international understanding and environmental conservation. He was California savings and loan commissioner during the 1960s, and later wrote extensively on the savings and loan crisis of the 1980s. Graduate of Deep Springs College. A Quaker, he volunteered as an ambulance driver with the American Field Service, serving with the British Eighth Army in Italy during World War II, later helping start the AFS student exchange program. He earned his BA at Cornell University and his Ph.D. in economics at Princeton University. He joined the UC Berkeley faculty in 1953; in addition to dedication to teaching, he served the university in many roles, including system-wide Vice President and Associate Dean of the Business School. Awarded the Berkeley Citation. After retirement, he was Executive Director of the Osher Foundation and was instrumental in establishing four-year UC scholarship programs for low-income students. He served on boards of Nature Conservancy (California and National) and Bernard Osher Foundation and was a Life Trustee of AFS Intercultural Programs. He married Judith Braude in 1949, who died of cancer in 1993. In 2001, he married Elizabeth Mackay Ratcliff. He is survived by his wife Elizabeth; his children, Daniel of Iowa City, Iowa, Sara of Columbus, Ohio; Thomas of Ardmore, PA, and Jonathan of Berkeley; five grandchildren; and a brother, Robert W. Balderston of Baker City, OR. A memorial service will be held at 2pm, November 11, at the UC Berkeley Faculty Club. The family asks that donations be made in his name to the Feather River Land Trust, P.O. Box 1826, Quincy, CA 95971, or to American Field Service International, 71 W. 23rd St., New York, NY 10010.