Frederick Carl Heck Jr.

It is with great sadness that the children of Fred C. Heck, Jr., Professor of Veterinary Microbiology, Emeritus, Texas A&M University, wish to inform friends and former colleagues of our beloved father that he has died, in Bryan, on January 23, 2012.

Our father was born on November 1, 1930 in Wilkes- Barre, Pa., the son of Fred and Agnes (Minkiewicz) Heck. As a young man, he worked alongside his father in the family business delivering coal and ice, and later assisted his father in operating the family’s beer garden. Dad enrolled at the University of Scranton, but left to enlist in the Air Force. He was stationed in France and then posted to Bryan Air Force Base. After his discharge, Dad enrolled at Texas A&M, where he took his B.S. and M.S. degrees. He received his Ph.D. from the University of Texas Southwestern Medical School in Dallas. For two years he worked in pharmaceutical development for Parke-Davis in Rochester, Michigan, but he and our mother missed the warmer, friendlier Texas culture. They brought their family back to Bryan when dad was hired to teach in the School of Veterinary Medicine in 1967; he retired in 1990.

Dad was preceded in death by his wife, Mary Alice (Sheridan) Heck, and his parents.

He is survived by daughter, Marlene Heck and son-in-law, Kevin Reinhart, of Lebanon, NH, by daughter,Patricia Heck of Bryan, and a son, Fred Heck III and daughter-in-law, Donna Graves Heck, and grandson, Philip Emerson Heck of Kingwood, Texas. Dad’s sister, Rosemary Hodun of Portsmouth, N.H., brother and sister-in-law, John and Marilyn Heck of Deptford Township, N.J., and sister-in-law, Marjorie Hoffman of Mt. Top, Pa., also survive him, as do many nieces and nephews who adored their Uncle Freddy.

We wish to express our deepest gratitude to family friend, Zeferina, who cared for our father with great tenderness in his last days. Laurie, dad’s Traditions Hospice nurse, attended with skill and love to his body and soul, and she could not have been kinder to us all. We are so thankful Laurie was with us to guide us through this most diffi cult time. The nursing staff at St. Joseph Manor also looked after dad with much compassion and care, for which we are ever grateful.

A Mass of Christian Burial will be held at 10:00 a.m. Friday, January 27 at St. Joseph Catholic Church with the Msgr. John McCaffrey offi ciating. Interment will follow at Mt. Calvary Cemetery. Visitation will be held from 5 to 7 p.m. Thursday with a

rosary service at 6:00 p.m. at Memorial Funeral Chapel in Bryan.

Memorials may be made to St. Joseph Catholic School, 109 North Preston Ave.Bryan, TX 77803.