Douglas Freed Obituary

Douglas William Freed died June 18, 2013 in Colorado Springs of complications from Alzheimer's disease. He was 83. He was born in Willmar, Minnesota, in 1930, the only child of Ernest Freed and Ethel Thompson Freed. He attended public schools in Willmar and graduated with honors from the University of Minnesota, where he was elected to Phi Beta Kappa. He went on there to earn a Ph.D. in clinical psychology in 1956, after which he moved to Colorado Springs to join the faculty of Colorado College as a member of the psychology department. Colorado College at that time was enjoying a renaissance under the new presidency of Louis T. Benezet. Doug became part of a new faculty team working on curricular changes that resulted a few years later in the college's signature Block Plan. He taught in several of the college's innovative liberal arts programs, such as Freedom and Authority and Perspectives in the Western Tradition. In the early 1960s he directed the college's foreign student program, and helped in the design and operation of a special summer arts and humanities master's degree program for K-12 teachers. He team-taught courses with many fellow faculty, including his wife, Maria Daniels, a professor of Spanish. Toward the end of his forty-three year career at CC, he sometimes encountered students whose parents and grandparents had studied with him decades earlier. He retired from the college in 1999. A natural athlete, Doug ran, hiked, biked, and played tennis until his final illness. His sons, Casey and David, have vivid, cherished memories of long bicycle rides around the Old North End neighborhood and surrounding areas. He was a life-time reader and student, his interests ranging from architecture to zoology. Doug is survived by his wife, Maria Daniels, sons Casey Freed and David Freed, both residents of Portland, Oregon, his former wife, Elaine Eilers Freed, and Maria's three brothers and their families. A memorial service for Douglas Freed will be scheduled for September. Gifts in his memory may be directed to the Alzheimer's Association.