April 24, 1938 – June 19, 2025
With regret we announce the death of our treasured and beloved friend, father, and grandfather Frederic J. Meier, 87, known as “Deri” to everyone. He was a longtime resident of Waitsfield, Vermont, and was heavily involved in the Mad River Tennis Club and the Mad River Glen Cooperative, serving key roles in both groups. He died of natural causes at the McClure Miller Respite House in Colchester, visited and attended to by old friends and loving family.
Deri was born in Dobbs Ferry, New York, the son of Max Meier and Bertie Ackermann. He graduated from Hackley in 1955 and Yale University in 1959 with a degree in History of Art. After graduation he joined the U.S. Marines, serving as an artillery officer, and was honorably discharged in 1962. From there he went to Harvard Business School and earned a Master’s in Business Administration, then joined Mobil Oil Corporation. He played a part in developing self-serve gasoline. After a few years working in Allocations, he took an overseas assignment in the Middle East, working to develop local personnel in the non-technical aspects of oil production. His first assignment was in Iran, right before the revolution began. The last few months of this job had him involved in organizing the evacuation of dependent personnel. In the fall of 1979, he went to Abu Dhabi to work as an assistant general manager and felt that his time spent there was the most successful period of his professional career at Mobil.
After returning to New York and suffering through some unsatisfying years, he left Mobil in 1988, earned an MPA at the JFK School of Government at Harvard, then relocated full-time to Waitsfield, where he had built and maintained a ski house for many years. He started a new career in Vermont state government, working three years as a deputy secretary of administration, and he also began teaching at the University of Vermont, where he served as mentor to several students and aides and made a lasting, positive impression upon them. He also became the treasurer of the Mad River Tennis Club, but perhaps his proudest achievement was working to establish the Mad River Glen Cooperative and then serving several years on the board as treasurer and president.
He married Emily Campbell Works in 1968, and had two children with her, Timothy and Sarah. Tragically, Emily unexpectedly died in 1983, and Deri was a single parent for several years. He reconnected with Suzanne Oland, of Toronto, Ontario, and they married in 1988. In Vermont and elsewhere, they had many years of adventures around the world and on the tennis court and ski hill.
He is survived by his children, Timothy and Sarah (David), his stepchildren, Linda (Austin), Victor (Fiona), and Heather (Robin), and his eight grandchildren, Emily, Chloe, Stella, Jack, Sarah, Owen, Olivia, and Luke.
Memorial services will be held at a later date. Memorial donations can be made to the Stark Mountain Foundation with a designation to Mad River Glen, and McClure Miller Respite House to thank the latter for the wonderful care Deri received in the last few days of his life
