About
Fred Meier Obituary
He is survived by his loving wife, Nancy; his daughter, Emily, her husband, Rob Meyer, and their children, Leo and Lucia, of Seattle, Washington; his son Rick, his partner, Emily Miller, and their son, Gus, of Toronto, Ontario; and his son Rob, his wife, Morgane Meier, and their children, Amelia and Charlotte, of Lafayette, Colorado.
Fred was born in Boston, Massachusetts, beloved son of Louise and Frederick Meier. He was raised in Salem, Massachusetts, and spent his childhood summers on Cape Cod. He is also survived by nine cousins in New England. After marrying Nancy, summers were spent on an island in Georgian Bay, where he loved to sail.
Fred earned his undergraduate degree in German at Dartmouth College in Hanover, New Hampshire (Class of 1970), spending his junior year studying at the University of Munich. He attended medical school at Dartmouth College and McGill University in Montreal and completed his internship in Boston. He went on to a long and fulfilling career in pathology, beginning in Hanover, where he and Nancy met.
Fred and Nancy were married in Hanover and welcomed their first child, Emily, there. Over the years, they lived in Salt Lake City, Utah; Richmond, Virginia; Chadds Ford, Pennsylvania; Ann Arbor, Michigan; Mbarara, Uganda, and Seattle, Washington. Fred loved being a pathologist and took great joy in teaching medical students.
Traveling the world was an important part of Fred's life with Nancy. They enjoyed kayaking, skiing, hiking, and cycling in Europe and North America.
Fred was known for his devout Catholic faith and his deep love for family and friends. He was also a man of boundless curiosity. His vast library reflected his wide-ranging interests in history, medicine, literature, poetry, philosophy, geology, travel, theology, and science.
Above all, Fred was a loving husband, father, grandfather, and friend. He gave freely of his time, wisdom, and care, and he will be remembered for his thoughtful reflections, quiet kindness, and steady presence in the lives of those who loved him. He will be greatly missed.
In lieu of flowers please consider a donation to any of the following:
https://collaboratingforbetterhealth.org
www.3wmedical.org
https://www.blessed-sacrament.org
https://giving.massgeneral.org/donate
Or checks can be made payable to:
Massachusetts General Hospital with "in memory of Fred Meier" in the memo line and sent to: Mass General Development Office, 125 Nashua Street, Suite 540 Boston, MA 02114-1101 to support the training of nurses in Mbarara, Uganda
The funeral will be held at Blessed Sacrament Church, 5041 9th Ave NE, Seattle WA 98105, on Monday February 2, 2026 at 10 am.
It will be live streamed using this link:
https://youtube.com/live/4Rm6_q-eP1Q?feature=share
To plant trees in memory, please visit the Sympathy Store.
6 Entries
Robert Meier
February 3, 2026
Raouf Nakhleh
February 3, 2026
I am saddened by the passing of Fred! He was a wonderful, worldly, knowledgeable and kind man. His contributions were many, but what I appreciated the most about Fred, was his genuine curiosity about the world and his eagerness to learn and live in this world.
I loved our conversations when we had them (in varied places, like New Orleans and the Dead Sea, among others.)
I will miss Fred!
Raouf Nakhleh
Peter J Howanitz MD
February 1, 2026
I am saddened by the passing of Frederick A Meier MD as Fred´s contributions to improved medical care by Pathology laboratories are well known and have been documented in important scientific publications during the past 35 years. Of his 50 publications, over 20 were aimed specifically at improving care of patients by Pathology departments and were published by The College of American Pathologists who recruited Fred to provide leadership to this important medical subspecialty. During the 20 years of study, Fred was driven to conduct a enormous yearly study to make recommendations aimed at improving medical care. For example one typical study reviewed almost 50,000 similar patient result records from 640 hospital Pathology departments and a subsequent medical publication of Fred and his colleagues findings recommended patient care improvements that were evaluated and adopted world wide.
Fred also was a very popular and highly rated enthusiastic speaker at yearly national meetings where he described how Pathology medical care could be improved.
During the years of his Pathology practice Fred had leadership roles in a number of outstanding United States academic Pathology programs, ending his career at Henry Ford Hospital Center in Detroit.
Peter J Howanitz MD
New York, NY USA
Professor Emeritus
SUNY Downstate Medical Center
Brooklyn NY USA
Richard Zarbo
February 1, 2026
Fred was a good and loyal friend, an insightful and perceptive pathologist, and one of the most intelligent and educated persons I have known. Here´s one of my fondest Fred Meier stories. At a CAP Quality Practices Committee meeting that I was chairing, I decided to prank Fred for his tardiness knowing he shows up late at 8:30, while the rest of us were in the room having breakfast by 7:30. When he arrived, I told him we could accommodate his lecture on the sinking of the Titanic whenever he was ready. Shocked, he said he missed that assignment from last time we met and could he be excused for about 30 minutes to get his thoughts together. Well, he came back and gave us a 45-minute detailed lecture on what really happened and caused the sinking of Titanic from a non-fatal glancing blow by an iceberg. He diagrammed it all on the flip chart. Root cause- failure to close the lower deck hold doors! This was before the ability to consult the internet in the palm of your hand, so this was all from his recall. We were shocked, absolutely blown away, and gave him a long-standing ovation! That was Fred.
I have many more. Fred was a procrastinator. He was superbly analytic, to a flaw, as he often couldn´t move past detail. But that was his function for us. You just had to mine that intellect. I did that after committee dinners, in the bar over a grappa for many years. Then when he accepted my offer of a job at Henry Ford Hospital after he left the chair position at A.I. Dupont Nemours Children's Hospital for his apolitical expression of his unwavering principles, I placed him in areas here that needed that level of analysis and that could be slow. He really wanted to be a surgical pathologist, but he was trained as a microbiologist, and one of the most insightful clinical pathologists I have ever known. After 6 months of surgical pathology, we all had enough. Fred was very disappointed. So, I asked Fred to train himself with Dr. Redline, the renowned placental pathologist at Cleveland Clinic, to become our dedicated placental pathologist because very few give a hoot about when that is signed out. Then I crafted a new and challenging role of division head of regional medical laboratories for him which was principally all clinical pathology. Fred assembled a supervisory group and rode the circuit to our 25+ medical centers at the time and improved the quality of our operations tremendously. In that arena, he devised the early data analytics of the consistency of outpatient laboratory performance and execution and defined the leading specimen and order defects that detracted from a quality patient and clinician experience. This was the precursor of our deviation management system. This resulted in his 2005 Archives of Pathology publication with Bruce Jones from their national CAP Q-Probes experience, "Point-of-Care Testing Error: Sources and Amplifiers, Taxonomy, Prevention Strategies, and Detection" (2005: 129; 1262 - 1267. DOI: 10.5858/2005-129-1262-PTESAA).
Fred never lost interest in contributing to surgical pathology and joined me in a grant funded through the University of Pittsburgh to study "Error detection in anatomic pathology" that we published with Steve Raab in the Archives of Pathology and Laboratory Medicine (2005;129:1237-45. doi: 10.5858/2005-129-1237-EDIAP)
That work evolved to a classification and process for that assessment through standardized amended report analyses of the magnitude and impact of laboratory errors in surgical pathology, published in his 2011 seminal publication "Study of amended reports to evaluate and improve surgical pathology processes." in Advances in Anatomic Pathology with myself and Ruan Varney, our quality manager (2011; 18:406-13. doi: 10.1097/PAP.0b013e318229bf20).
Much of his quality work in surgical pathology is summarized in his deeply thoughtful book chapter "The Landscape of Error in Surgical Pathology" in R. E. Nakhleh (ed.), Error Reduction and Prevention in Surgical Pathology, DOI 10.1007/978-1-4939-2339-7_2. Springer: New York, 2015.
Fred Meier was one of a kind. I will miss him.
-Richard Zarbo
How you can show support
Follow
Get email updates whenever changes are made.
Send flowers
Consider sending flowers.
Add photos
Share their life with photo memories.
Plant trees
Honor them by planting trees in their memory.
Donate in Memory
Make a donation in memory of your loved one.
Share this page
Invite other friends and family to visit the page.
Sr. Gertrude Kabanyomozi, Uganda
January 30, 2026
Rest in peace, Fred. Your kindness and love will forever be remembered. May God bless you for your selfless service and love for others. To Nancy and the family, may Mother Mary comfort and strengthen you in this difficult time.
SR Dr Priscilla Busingye
January 30, 2026
Fred you inspired me in many things as an obstetrician and Gyneacologist your passion for the health of women.may God reward you receive your crown .But with Faith I know you have gone to my Father's Home one day I will hear you say Sr Priscilla welcome Hom. REST IN PEACE FRED
Showing 1 - 6 of 6 results
4567 Rainier Ave S, Seattle, WA 98118
Make a Donation
in Fred Meier's name
People and places connected with Fred
Recent Obituaries
Recent Obituaries
Recent Obituaries
Recent Obituaries
How to support Fred's loved ones
Should I Send Sympathy Flowers?
What kind of arrangement is appropriate, where should you send it, and when should you send an alternative?
Read more
What Should I Write in a Sympathy Card?
We'll help you find the right words to comfort your family member or loved one during this difficult time.
Read more
Resources to help you cope with loss
How to Cope With Grief
Information and advice to help you cope with the death of someone important to you.
Read more
Estate Settlement Guide
If you’re in charge of handling the affairs for a recently deceased loved one, this guide offers a helpful checklist.
Read more
Obituaries, grief & privacy: Legacy’s news editor on NPR podcast
Legacy's Linnea Crowther discusses how families talk about causes of death in the obituaries they write.
Read moreWays to honor Fred Meier's life and legacy
Obituary Examples
You may find these well-written obituary examples helpful as you write about your own family.
Read more
Obituary Templates – Customizable Examples and Samples
These free blank templates make writing an obituary faster and easier.
Read more
How Do I Write a Eulogy?
Some basic help and starters when you have to write a tribute to someone you love.
Read more
