FRITZ CASSELMAN

CASSELMAN, Fritz Fritz loved people. He loved singing with them. He loved sailing with them. He loved gathering with them afterwards to talk about all the singing and sailing they had just done together. He loved telling stories to them, planning parties for them and dressing up in goofy costumes, to stick stickers on their faces in Boston's annual First Night procession. And when, late in his life, illness prevented him from doing those things, he loved simply being around them. He died on Tuesday, September 16, surrounded by the people he loved most. He was 76. He was a leader in every community he was a part of. In the Back Bay neighborhood of Boston, where he lived for nearly 50 years, he helped forge common ground between residents, businesses and developers on the board of the Neighborhood Association of the Back Bay. In the Cape Cod village of Cataumet, where he spent summers since boyhood, he helped revive the Cataumet Club's clambake, delighting in the way people came together to collect the seaweed, place the rocks and tend the fire. Frederick Voss Casselman - known to all but telemarketers as Fritz - was born August 25, 1949, the youngest of four children. He grew up in Newton, MA, in a home with high expectations and a social conscience. His father, Robert Crozer Casselman, was an executive at Polaroid Corp. His mother, Dorothy Voss Casselman, was an active volunteer for Newton-Wellesley Hospital and the Boston Museum of Fine Arts. He attended Belmont Hill School and then the University of Wisconsin, where he helped lead anti-war protests, wrote a string quartet, and began dating a young Englishwoman, Susan Ashbrook. They married on his 24th birthday and raised two sons, Ben and Peter. He considered a career in politics, helping to run campaigns, while theoretically attending law school at Boston University. Law school went better than the campaigns, and he ended up spending the early part of his career as a lawyer. He later worked in the biotech industry, and ended his career working for the Clinton Foundation's HIV/AIDS initiative, helping to make antiretroviral drugs affordable in developing nations. But he was perhaps most proud of his community activities. He was a director of the Esplanade Association, where he played an instrumental role in the development of the Frances Appleton pedestrian bridge. He also served as a board member at the Learning Project Elementary School and as co-chair of the Citizens' Advisory Committee for development projects over the Massachusetts Turnpike. He sang for years with Chorus Pro Musica in Boston. Many of his favorite days were spent on the waters of Buzzards Bay. He would come back to the harbor under full sail, barreling toward the beach before making a perfect dock landing, with the whole community watching from the beach. He is survived by his wife of 52 years, Susan Ashbrook; his sons and their partners, Ben (Erin) and Peter (Erica); and a granddaughter, Vivian, who knew him as "Bompi." He is also survived by his brother, Ted; sister, Margery Connor; and numerous nieces and nephews. Another brother, Carl, died in 2013. In lieu of flowers, donations in his honor may be made to Chorus Pro Musica or the Women's Lunch Place.

View the online memorial for Fritz CASSELMAN