Frederick M. Fiske was born in 1948. He grew up in Iowa, then lived abroad as the son of a U.S. diplomat. He began collecting stamps at the family’s first posting in the 1950s, in Dacca, East Pakistan. Fred retired from a 40-year newspaper career in 2013. He has degrees from Harvard and Columbia, and was president of the National Conference of Editorial Writers in 2001. He lives in retirement near Syracuse, NY.