Fred was born in Washington, D.C. and graduated from Culpeper County High School. He got his B.S. from Hampden-Sydney College and a master's degree in education from the University of Virginia. His wife Nancy is a math teacher, and they have three daughters: Marta, Erika, and Karla. He comes to RVGS by way of schools in Virginia; Beirut, Lebanon; Cali, Colombia; and Cairo, Egypt. His interests include computers and multimedia, and he is the chairman for Roanoke Valley Mac Users' Group (RVMUG). In addition, he is the past-president of the Virginia Society for Technology in Education, and a member of the Southwest Virginia Technology Consortium and the Virginia Math & Science Coalition.