FRASE, Robert W(illiam) 1912-2003

OBITUARY NOTICE—

See index for CA sketch: Born January 1, 1912, in Chicago, IL; died of prostate cancer, November 3, 2003, in Alexandria, VA. Economist and author. Through his association with various private and government organizations, Frase was heavily involved in issues involving publishing and copyright law. Completing his undergraduate work at the University of Wisconsin in 1934, he moved to Washington, D.C., where he was on staff at the Social Science Research Council for two years. He then finished a master's degree at Harvard in 1938 and took several government positions with the Departments of Labor and Agriculture, as well as the U.S. War Relocation Authority. In 1943, he enlisted in the U.S. Army Air Force and became a first lieutenant in the Intelligence Service. After the war, Frase was a special assistant to the secretary of commerce. His involvement with publishing started in 1950, when he joined the American Book Publishers Council as an economist and associate managing director. This was followed by ten years as director and economist for both this organization and the American Educational Publisher Institute during the 1960s. Finally, from 1970 until 1972, Frase served as economist and vice president of the Association of American Publishers in Washington, D.C., before becoming a freelance economic consultant. During his association with these publishing organizations, Frase championed such causes as lower postal rates for the shipment of books, the use of acid-free paper to preserve important scholarly documents, and, as chair of the National Commission of New Technology Uses in 1972, the copyrighting of software programs. The author of Library Funding and Public Support (1973), Frase was also the coauthor of Books and the Mass Market (1953) and Book Publishing in the U.S.S.R. (1973).

OBITUARIES AND OTHER SOURCES:

PERIODICALS

Washington Post, November 8, 2003, p. B7.