Charles "Carlos" Frederic Fraker

Michigan.

Carlos was the only child born of Charles F. Fraker Sr. of Connecticut and Selva Larramendi of Puerto

Rico on February 2, 1923 in Cambridge, Massachusetts. He was the beloved husband of Doris Cross

Fraker, who died three years ago after a wonderful marriage of 56 years.

Carlos was a consummate student, musician, and educator. He received a B.A. degree from the

The University of Massachusetts in 1945 and his B.S. degree from Yale University in 1946. He completed his

M.A. degree at Middlebury Spanish School in 1953 and his Ph.D. degree in Spanish at Harvard University

in 1963. Carlos taught at the University of Massachusetts, Harvard University, and Wesleyan University

before coming to the University of Michigan as an assistant professor in 1965. Carlos could often be

seen walking the mile or more from his house to the university. He was promoted to associate professor

in 1968 and professor in 1977 and served in the Department of Romance Languages and Literatures as a

teacher and scholar. Professor Fraker was a devoted mentor of both undergraduate and graduate

students and maintained relationships with many throughout his life. He will be remembered by large

numbers of students as an enthusiastic and committed teacher who took enormous pleasure in

introducing them to the intricacies of medieval Spanish literature.

Carlos is the namesake of the biennial Charles F. Fraker Conference that was organized in his honor by

doctoral students in the Department of Romance Languages and Literatures at the University of

Michigan.

Though Carlos had been legally blind for all of his life, that never stopped him from enjoying his great

love of music and reading. He could often be seen hunched over a Bach concerto in his home or with

his nose firmly planted in a potential good read at Border’s in downtown Ann Arbor.

Carlos was both a passionate and excellent musician. Before specializing in literature, he studied music

at Eastman School of Music and at Yale with Ralph Kirkpatrick, one of America’s foremost

harpsichordists. He and Doris loved their music group that met every Friday night for 16 years, spending

the evening playing music before enjoying a nice meal and conversation. He particularly loved playing

baroque music on his handmade harpsichord or ancient upright in his home. He would get a faraway

look in his eyes and you just knew he was being transported to some famed concert hall in Europe.

Carlos expressed his passion for music to the very end, playing Bach and Handel for his fellow residents

at his retirement community.

But relationships were most important to Carlos. He loved his bride, and watching them together was

like watching two chambers of a beautiful heartbeat together in rhythm. He always communicated

thoughtful and compassionate interest in anything and everything that was of importance to the

student or colleague, neighbor, or friend who was blessed to be before him. He will be greatly missed.

Carlos leaves his cousins, Karen Mills (Dave), Matthew Mills, Madelyn Mills, and Chelsea Troeger from

Indiana, and Betty Ann Fusco and Dick Lyman from Connecticut. The family would like to especially

thank caregiver Yolanda Casillas and her husband Juan Gonzalez as well as the extraordinary staffs of

Huron Woods, Glacier Hills Ann Arbor Hospice for their tender care of Carlos in the last years of his life. A

virtual celebration of his life will take place on ZOOM on Sunday, December 6th, 2020 at 3:00 p.m. EST

(https://us02web.zoom.us/j/84284965966). Burial will be at a later date in Cedar Hill Cemetery in

Hartford, CT.