Dr. Fred Frese
Psychologist. Advocate. Revolutionary.
On a Sunday morning in 1967, Frederick J. Frese, an intelligent, charming, and successful businessman, writhed at the front of the altar in the Milwaukee cathedral as he felt God transform him into an agent of Armageddon. Dragged to a nearby psychiatric facility, Frese was diagnosed with schizophrenia, where he was told he would spend the rest of his life as a ward of the state. However, Frese was not the kind of person to let something small like civil imprisonment keep him down.
Twelve years later, Frese was promoted to the Director of Psychology within the very psychiatric system in which he had been a patient.
Over the next forty years, Dr. Frese became a leading champion for the rights of the seriously mentally ill. Dr. Frese gave over 2,000 speeches nationally and internationally, including senate and congressional testimony.
Frese’s gripping story was featured on CNN, in the Wall Street Journal, and Chicago Tribune. He frequently participated in interviews on major media outlets, including CNN, ABC and NPR, and in the 1996 film I’m Still Here, by Academy Award nominee, Robert Bilheimer. In 2015 he was named CNN “Mental Health Warrior”.
Dr. Frese legacy is recognized by thousands of patients, families, and providers worldwide.
In 2018, the Northeast Ohio Medical Education (NEOMED) College of Medicine dedicated the Drs. Fred and Penny Frese Lecture Series to the Frese’s contribution to the psychiatric field. In 2018, Psychological Services, a journal from the American Psychological Association, realeased a special section, Providers with Lived Experience of Mental Illness (Prosumers) in honor of Dr. Frese.
Dr. Frese was more than a revolutionary.
Above all else, Dr. Frese was a family man. He is survived by his wife, four children, and five grandchildren, who love and miss him everyday.
Claire Robson 