Claude Moore Fuess (AC 1905) Material for a Biography of Frank Waterman Stearns (AC 1878)

Claude Moore Fuess (AC 1905), educator, historian and author, was born in Waterville, N.Y., in 1885. He received the M.A. (1906) and Ph.D (1912) degrees from Columbia University. Fuess taught English at Phillips Academy, Andover, from 1908 to 1933, and was appointed headmaster there in 1933. He was the author or editor of more than 30 books and numerous articles, among which are "An Old New England School: A History Of Phillips Academy Andover" (1917); "The Amherst Memorial Volume; A Record Of The Contribution Made By Amherst College And Amherst Men In the World War, 1914-1918" (1926); "Daniel Webster" (1930); "Amherst, The Story Of A New England College" (1935); "Calvin Coolidge, The Man From Vermont" (1940); "Joseph B. Eastman, Servant Of The People" (1952); "Stanley King Of Amherst" (1955); and "Andover: Symbol of New England" (1959). At some time Fuess was commissioned by Frank Waterman Stearns to write a biographical treatment of Stearns himself; however, Stearns died in 1939 and sometime around 1941 the project was abandoned according to the wishes of the Stearns family. Fuess died in 1963.

Frank Waterman Stearns (AC 1878) was born on November 8, 1856 in Boston. After graduating from Amherst College in 1878, he joined his father's retail dry goods firm, the R. H. Stearns Company in Boston. He became a partner in that company in 1881 and was appointed chairman of its Board of Directors in 1919. Stearns was a close friend of his fellow Amherst College alumnus, Calvin Coolidge (AC 1895) and one of his most influential supporters in politics. In 1880 Stearns married Emily Williston Clark (daughter of William Smith Clark, AC 1848), with whom he had three children: Foster Stearns (AC 1903), Emily W. Giese, and Louisa Prescott. Frank Waterman Stearns died in Boston in 1939.