THE PASSING OF A MODERN-DAY RENAISSANCE MAN

Dr. Gary Freed retired as a Physics Professor, having taught physics and physical sciences in colleges and universities for over 30 years. He met and married his wife Deb while teaching physics at Florida Institute of Technology (Florida Tech) in Melbourne, Florida. They would have celebrated 49 years of marriage at their next anniversary.

In addition to instructing physics, he was skilled in its applications. As a Florida Certified Residential Contractor, he wanted to make certain he and Deb started marriage in a nice home. So, while working on his PhD at Florida Tech, he decided they should remodel a one bedroom guest cottage into a 3 bedroom, 2 bath home. Although he was always the adventurer, no one ever accused him of having perfect timing!

In his last appointment at The College of the Florida Keys, Deb teased that he primarily accepted the position so he could fly-fish for bonefish. He loved poling his boat around on the shallow crystal-clear flats in a quest for the elusive bonefish, which he became very adept at finding. He also loved fly fishing in the Smoky Mountain trout streams on summer college breaks. However, he didn’t spend all his time fishing; he was elected Faculty Council President twice while at Florida Keys and presented papers at the Florida Academy of Sciences. He loved telling the story of feeling like a security guard while accompanying a fellow professor, who for his presentation was carrying a gold bar from one of Mel Fisher’s finds off the Keys.

He was never satisfied with only what he could discover or accomplish on terra firma, he wanted to explore the skies above and the oceans below. Some years ago, he became a Commercial Pilot and Flight Instructor, and although not active in recent years, he kept his license current with continuing education and an FAA written exam every two years. While he loved soaring above the clouds, he also had a curiosity to explore beneath the ocean’s surface, so naturally he obtained his Advanced Diver certification.

Gary was an artist who painted beautiful watercolors and created steel and copper metal sculptures. For many years, he and Deb enjoyed traveling to look for subjects for his plein air painting. For several years during summer teaching breaks, they showed and sold his creations at art shows in Florida and Georgia. Once while painting a watercolor of a house in Monterey Square in Savannah, the home’s owner came out and offered to buy it as soon as it was completed. Monterey Square was the setting for the book and movie “Midnight in the Garden of Good and Evil,” and this gent had been in the movie. Furthermore, his home also housed his antique documents shop, something Deb and Gary collected. After a bit of bartering, he got the painting, and the Freeds got a copy of the book signed by the author and a couple of antique Civil War-era documents.

Gary was a Vietnam-era veteran, having served in the Army Medical Service as a Lieutenant in early 1960’s Korea. While serving his country, he eagerly embraced other cultures and was respectful of people different from himself. He often went fishing with the locals. This profound appreciation for people of all backgrounds later made his appointment to the Human Rights Commission a source of great pride, especially as he served while still living in his Iowa birthplace.”

Gary’s interests were many and endless and he was all but unstoppable. After having dual hip surgeries he began competing in 5K running events. He placed 1^st or 2^nd in his age group in almost every one. As a young motorcycle rider, at one point he was named Mid-west Hill Climbing Champion. He ran the gamut from rugged to rhythmic. He spent many years playing guitar with vocals and he especially liked folk music, both traditional and more modern folk and folk-rock artists like Gordon Lightfoot, James Taylor, and Jim Croce. A lifelong musician, when hearing loss forced him to retire his guitar, he began teaching himself the electric piano—the one instrument he could still hear and enjoy. He even tried his hand at French cooking, but lost enthusiasm after he’d made a perfect soufflé and chocolate mousse, an interest Deb was sorry to see wane.

When Gary was diagnosed in late 2024 with CMML, a rare type of leukemia, he approached this blood cancer as he had every other challenge: by learning everything he could about it. Sadly, while knowledge may help find a cure, it isn’t a substitute for one.

With a brilliant mind and endless curiosity, Dr. Gary Freed spent his life mastering science, art, and the joys of living fully. Passing just short of his 86th birthday, he was a loving and devoted husband to Deb, a doting “daddy” to his cat Kiki, and truly a modern-day Renaissance man.”