Albany – Eric W. Fried, 84, devoted husband, father, and grandfather, passed away April 5, 2025, at Albany Medical Center. Eric was a wildlife biologist and writer of fiction, poetry, and philosophy. 

Born in Sunnyside, Queens, to the late Isadore and Fannie (Beetman) Fried, Eric earned a BA in English from Columbia University in 1960. After graduation, he worked on a merchant ship out of Trinidad; his short story about the experience, “Worship to Greenland,” was published in 1967 in Epoch magazine. He married Joanna Meigs in 1963, and after ten months’ travel together in Europe, Eric studied natural resources management at Cornell University. In Albany, Eric joined the New York Department of Environmental Conservation as a wildlife biologist, working, among other things, on the reintroduction of the bald eagle to New York State. Upon retirement, he received an MA in philosophy from SUNY Albany and published Inwardness and Morality with Rodopi. He was an active member of the Temple Israel community. 

Eric is survived by his children, Ezra Fried, Daisy Fried, Miriam Fried and Jacob (Seal) Fried; his sister, Ellen Fried (Bob Francis); and his grandchildren, Leo Welch Fried, Isadora Davis, Maisie Quinn, Sophia Fried and Angela Fried. Eric was predeceased by his wife Joanna Fried in 2020.

Memorial contributions in Eric’s name can be made to Five Rivers Environmental Education Center (friendsoffiverivers.org) and Hillel International (hillel.org).

Funeral services for Eric will be held on Wednesday April 9th at 2:00 pm at Temple Israel, 600 New Scotland Ave., in Albany. Burial will follow at The Temple Israel Cemetery. The funeral services will be livestreamed at Temple Israel and can be viewed by clicking the following link: Temple Israel Livestream

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

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