Frederic Brandi

Frederic R H Brandi of Ardsley and Old Chatham NY died on 29 July 2024.

Fred was born on 10th October 1941, the third child of Frederic H Brandi and first of Juliette Howell Brandi.

Fred grew up living primarily in Scarsdale, NY, with his parents later moving to Manhattan before settling in Great Barrington, MA.

Fred’s early education was at Wooster School in Danbury, CT, graduating in 1959, receiving the honour of Valedictorian. At Wooster Fred’s love of history and engineering began and these passions were further developed at Williams College, where he received his Bachelor of Arts in 1963, and later at NYU where he was awarded an MBA. 

Fred’s passion and fondness for Wooster School stayed with him throughout his life. He served on their board, and later received a recognition of this long and committed service to the school. 

Fred started his career working for Bankers Trust and IBM before joining JCPenney as a Systems Analyst, later becoming a Systems Project Manager with the company. In his later years, Fred was employed by IT Consulting firm CGI Systems.

Fred’s work life focused on all things Information Technology, from writing computer programs to maintaining and developing complex computer systems for business growth and efficiency. In his later years he wrote help pages for IT system use that were award winning.

In June 1966 Fred married the love of his life, Carol Weber. They remained utterly devoted to one another for 56 years of marriage, until Carol’s death in 2022. They settled in Ardsley, NY and remained there until 2016. They also had home in Old Chatham, NY. 

Fred lived his life with an attitude of ‘service – not self’ and it was this quality that endeared him to all those he met. He joined the National Guard relishing the opportunity to serve his country and put to use his fondness for all things mechanical. It was a time he was incredibly proud of, and the friendships made during his service were life-long and ones he truly valued.

In the 1980s, Fred made the commitment to serve the community in which he lived and was elected as a Trustee of the Village of Ardsley, receiving recognition for the value of his service to the Village.

One of Fred’s most passionate commitments was to his Church, serving on the Consistory of Greenville Community Church in Scarsdale for many years. There he was also an active part of the men’s club, sometimes seen cooking up delicious breakfasts each Easter for those attending a sunrise service or outside the church on a Saturday maintaining the grounds and looking after the church graveyard. His house in Chatham, NY hosted many annual Church youth group ski trips too!

Fred’s great joy was his home in Chatham. A place where he could often be found mindfully tinkering with his tractor, mowing the lawn, building stone walls and maintaining the landscape, walking or hiking in the woods or firing up a mean BBQ for family and friends. He loved the outdoors, the rural environment, the calm and tranquility away from a busy daily life.

In 2002 Fred received the devastating diagnosis of Parkinson’s Disease. It was something he was very private about. He lived from the point of diagnosis forward with an attitude of ‘never give in and never give up’ and this served him well. While many would shy away from long-haul travel living with such an aggressive form of the disease, Fred chose to live life on his terms making numerous regular visits to Australia and England to spend time with his son and daughter and his four grandchildren. These trips held some of his fondest family memories and he never said no to the opportunity to tour historical sites, visit places of interest, all with his walking frame in hand and always reminding people that he would ask for help if he needed it. His attitude toward how to live life with a degenerative disease was nothing short of inspiring and was unwavering right to the end.

Fred was quiet and observant, thoughtful and considerate, intelligent and incredibly kind. He loved a joke and had a dry sense of humour that could easily be overlooked if you weren’t paying attention. He will be greatly missed by all who knew him, his friends and his family and fellow parishioners at Greenville Community Church.

Fred is survived by his sister Julia, brother Jim, son Ted and daughter Cara, as well as by his grandchildren Frederic, Finlay, Helen and Joel.

A memorial service to remember Fred will be held at Greenville Community Church in Scarsdale at the end of October.