A Mass of Christian Burial was celebrated on Dec. 2 at Assumption Church in Morristown, N.J., for Robert J. Fredericks of Morristown and Morris Township, both in New Jersey, who died on Nov. 25. He was 91.
Born in New York City, Fredericks completed his secondary schooling at the Augustinian Academy on Staten Island. He attended Villanova University on a naval ROTC scholarship and earned a bachelor’s degree in chemistry.
Fredricks was commissioned as an ensign in the U.S. Navy and served three years on active duty. He then earned a master’s degree in chemistry from St. Joseph’s University in Philadelphia, Penn., and a doctorate in chemistry from Lehigh University in Bethlehem, Penn.
During his career, Fredericks worked for the General Aniline and Film Corporation in Easton, Penn., as a research chemist; Allied Chemical Corporation in Morristown in a research supervisory capacity; Ethicon, a Johnson and Johnson Company, as manager of analytical chemistry, and then as associate director of research. He was also employed at Surgikos, another Johnson & Johnson Company, as vice president for research and development and a member of the Board of Directors, and at Johnson & Johnson Dental Products Company in a similar position.
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In 1985, Fredericks and his wife, Jeanette, purchased the Allen Translation Service and moved it from Maplewood, N.J., to Morristown, where he was president until his retirement in 2008.
Fredericks authored 25 research papers published in peer-reviewed scientific journals, as well as the book “X-ray Diffraction for the Industrial Chemist,” published by the American Chemical Society. He co-authored “The Augustinian Academy — 1899-1969 — A History” and, with his wife Jeanette, co-authored “A History of the Church of the Assumption,” about Assumption Parish in Morristown, which was featured in a story in The Beacon. He also published “Flame Fighters of Morristown,” a history of the Morristown Fire Department, and “The American Association of the Sovereign Military Hospitaller Order of Saint John of Jerusalem of Rhodes and of Malta 1927-2020.”
A devout Catholic, Fredericks was invested in the Order of Malta in 1996, the world’s oldest Order of Chivalry. A worldwide lay religious order of the Roman Catholic Church, the Order of Malta has a dual objective: service to the sick and the poor, and the defense of the faith. Fredericks initiated a national ministry serving those in prison and their families, bringing the Word of God to the incarcerated and mentoring and supporting their families. Under his leadership, Prison Ministry in the Order of Malta is now one of the largest Catholic outreaches to the incarcerated and their families in the United States.
With his wife Jeanette, Fredricks was presented with the Service Award by the Assumption College for Sisters in Denville, N.J., and the Vivere Christus Award presented by the Paterson Diocese in New Jersey.
Fredricks was active in many civic groups in the Morristown area. He has served as president of the Morris County Historical Society, president of the Washington Association of New Jersey, a member and president of the Morristown Club, and a member of the Morristown Field Club.
Survivors include his wife of 41 years, the former Jeanette Carol Kubin, and his nieces, Denise Rist, Wendy Hitchcock, and Marcy Gregg, all of Oregon. He was preceded by his mother, Mary Elizabeth Fredericks (nee McCarthy); his father, Harold D. Fredericks; and his brother, Lt. Col. H. D. Fredericks, USMC.
