Jonathan Fraser

Writer, Director & Educator; Husband, Brother, Uncle, & Friend

Born on May 6th, 1955 to Lillian, a music teacher, and Willard Fraser, an ad man, Jon Fraser grew up in Great Neck, N.Y. with his beloved big brother, Steve, on a close-knit block in a modest suburban neighborhood. He showed an early affinity for theater, and found a mentor in Ruth Klinger, an inspiring local drama teacher, who opened him to the worlds of O’Neill and Williams, and to whom he’d later dedicate one of his plays: “For Ruth: who taught me not only how, but why.” At Great Neck North High School, where he graduated in ‘73, Jon was vice-president of his class, editor at the school paper, active in the anti-war movement, and formed friendships that would last a lifetime.

Studying at Columbia University, Jonny found a home in NYC, where he would spend his entire life as a quintessential Upper West Sider, loving all the diverse flavors and opportunities the city had to offer. He received his BA in 1977 and later his MFA in Dramatic Writing from the Tisch School at NYU, and achieved much early success, directing Off-Broadway plays at the Gene Frankel Theater, and receiving a visit -- and a positive review! -- from Tennessee Williams, at his production of Orpheus Descending.

Jon was a person who opened doors for himself and others. He created the theatre program at Southampton College which led to a long association with Long Island University, for which he taught, directed and travelled the country recruiting prospective students. He eventually became Department Chair, and then Dean, before retiring in 2020.

Jonny had a passion for the movies, and appeared in films ranging from No Picnic to Broadway Danny Rose. Vodka and lobsters were two of his favorite vices, and nothing made him happier than ‘sightseeing’ on the beach. Jonny’s wit was unsurpassed: wry, sardonic and endearingly self-deprecating. And his joie de vivre was so contagious that there simply was no antidote.

As he evolved as an artist, Jon focused more and more on his writing and he authored fifteen relationship-themed plays that were both published and produced in the New York area. In recent years, as co-artistic director of the New Circle Theater Company, he presented The Inferno Project, a play cycle which tackled one of the seven deadly sins per year, and to which he also contributed as a writer and director. Jon also recently completed a screenplay, The Cadaver Synod, a bleakly ironic account of skullduggery in the papacy.

But the pinnacle of Jon’s achievements might have come fifteen years ago, when he met the love of his life, fashion designer Marco Pizzato. They became engaged on New Year’s Eve, 2010, in Milan, when Jon proposed -- in Italian -- as Amarcord played on the tv. A week after gay marriage became legal, in July of ‘13, they wed at City Hall in New York City. Marco eventually became a US citizen and they enjoyed summers on Fire Island, vacations in Provincetown and were planning new chapters together when Jon’s illness struck in April of ‘21.

Jon’s fortitude and fierce will to live in his final months were an inspiration to all who knew him, and he passed on November 9, 2021. Besides his husband Marco, he is survived by a devoted and much-loved family: brother, Steven Fraser; sister-in-law Jill Fraser; and his niece and nephew Emma and Max, for whom Jonny would do anything, even overcome his fear of steep plunges at great velocity if they insisted he join them on the roller coaster.

Also surviving is a group of longtime friends, Team Jonny, with whom he co-conspired for over fifty years, and who’ll be honoring his legacy by sponsoring the Jon Fraser Memorial Scholarship for outstanding students in drama or the creative arts, to be awarded annually at Harvey Milk High School in Manhattan.