Font ResizeFred Fogg, a man who always saw the best in mankind even though he had the experienced some of the worst inhumanities imaginable, died in his El Cerrito home on Oct. 28 at age 88.
The longtime Richmond Unified School District educator and counselor was known as "Fearless Fred" because he was never afraid to help those in need. He loved to fix things, whether it was buildings, people's lives or the world.
"He really had a big heart, especially for the down-and-out," said son Dennis Fogg of Hayward. "He was always a fighter for justice. He was always questioning authority."
Despite the nickname, it was the fears and carnage Fogg saw as part of the United States invasion force on Iwo Jima during World War II that drove many of his humanitarian pursuits.
He was a tireless volunteer at local soup kitchens and homeless shelters, both serving meals and helping with construction or repair needs. For at least 20 years he would devote two weeks each summer to meeting the needs of an orphanage in Mexico City.
He brought refugees — both from world calamities and the streets of Richmond — to live in the home he built in the El Cerrito for his wife and three sons. As a shop teacher he taught young men usable job skills and as a work experience counselor he guided high school students to productive careers.
In retirement, he built homes in Richmond for Habitat for Humanity, lobbied local and world leaders on issues important
"He loved being around people and having parties," Dennis Fogg said. "He had a lot of energy."
That energy and passion stemmed from his own early experiences. Fogg's mother died just a year after he was born in 1921 in Placerville.
Fogg left home at age 14 and found work — not easy in 1935 — yet stayed in school with the encouragement of a high school coach who saw his athletic promise and steered him to a college football scholarship at Santa Barbara.
In return Fogg had to promise that he would help others if he became successful. Fogg left school to join the Construction Battalion (Seabees) during World War II and was sent to Iwo Jima, where he saw nine months of nonstop combat in one of the most bloody battles of the war.
In a 1999 Times interview he teared up as he described "Bodies piled 20 feet in the air, everywhere," adding, "I can see everything clear as it was then."
"Fearless Fred" was listed as declared dead or missing in action during the siege and in later years he would make an annual visit to a history class at El Cerrito High School to describe and warn students about an experience that haunted him right to the end.
"They would leave the classroom with a better understanding that the machoism and glory you see on TV is not reality," said his son, Fred Fogg Jr.
The classroom talks continued an association that began in 1950 when Fogg completed his college degree at San Jose State University and started a 30-year career with the Richmond schools.
As a teacher and counselor he worked at Roosevelt, Helms, Ells and Adams junior and El Cerrito and John F. Kennedy high schools.
Fogg married Elizabeth (Betty) Anne Kelley in 1952 and they had three sons: Dennis, Peter, and Frederick. Betty Fogg died in 2005.
Fred Fogg's refuge from the memories of war came in helping others. At different times the Fogg family took in refuges from communist Hungary, postwar Vietnam, Kenya and Afghanistan, as well as students "Fearless Fred" encountered who needed foster care.
He helped with construction projects at the Bay Area Rescue Mission, was a daily meal server for years at the Greater Richmond Interfaith Program Souper Center and did construction for Habitat for Humanity.
Fogg started Aid to Others, a small charity that collected and delivered donations of cash, food or basic necessities to those in dire need and at other times he would just show up with his hammer and tools, ready to help at the scene of a disaster — be it a house fire in Richmond, a repair job at a school or earthquake-ravaged Watsonville in 1989.
"There are so many parts of him," Fred Fogg Jr. said. "It's enough for 10 people. We're planning his memorial and we're wondering which person we're going to talk about."
