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Frederick O. Gearing, professor emeritus and former chair of the Department of Anthropology, died Sept. 20 under hospice care in Cheektowaga after a long battle with lung cancer. He was 88.
A lifelong resident of Amherst, Gearing served in the Army Air Forces as a turret gunner and flight engineer in the B-26 bomber. He flew 10 missions over Italy out of Tunisia. During the 10th mission, his aircraft was shot down and after bailing out with his fellow crew members, he was captured by German troops and spent two years as a prisoner of war. He received a Purple Heart and a Second Oak Leaf Cluster Air Medal for meritorious service.
Following the war, Gearing earned bachelor’s, master’s and doctoral degrees in cultural anthropology from the University of Chicago. He held faculty positions at the University of Washington and the University of California-Riverside, and also worked at the American Anthropological Association in Washington, D. C.
The bulk of his academic career was spent at UB, where he served as chair of the anthropology department, helping to transform the department into its modern form.
Gearing published numerous articles on such topics as education, nonwestern political systems, the Cherokee and Fox Indians, and Greek village life.
His book “The Face of the Fox” was a classic anthropological study based on field work with the Fox Indians near Tama, Iowa.
Gearing also wrote and illustrated an anthropologically informed series of readers for young children called “Big Cat.” The books focused on the life and adventures of a Native-American boy, Big Cat, and several other characters. The series was used with great success by his wife, Marjorie, with her kindergarten and first-grade students in Riverside, Calif., and in the Williamsville schools.
More recently, he co-authored the book “From the Edge of Greek Space: ExoMani” with his longtime friend and colleague, Mariekaty Georgota. It was the culmination of his relationship with the Greek village Kardamyli, dating back to 1960-62 when he conducted ethnographic research there.
A memorial celebration at UB is planned.
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