Kent James Frederick

ON AUGUST 9, 2025, KENT JAMES FREDERICK, OUR BELOVED HUSBAND, FATHER, SON, CO-WORKER, AND BEST FRIEND, WHILE IN GREECE AT HIS FAMILY VACATION HOME, TOOK A LEISURELY SWIM IN THE GULF OF CORINTH, SAT IN A COMFORTABLE BEACH CHAIR WITH THE LATEST HISTORY BOOK HE WAS READING, AND PASSED AWAY QUIETLY. KENT WAS BORN IN NEW YORK ON OCTOBER 7, 1962, TO JAMES AND EURLA FREDERICK, AND SHORTLY THEREAFTER, HIS FIRST OF MANY TRAVELS BEGAN WHEN HIS FAMILY MOVED TO ELLICOTT CITY, MARYLAND, HIS TRUE CHILDHOOD HOME. AN ONLY CHILD IN FACT, BUT NOT IN SPIRIT, KENT BEGAN HIS LIFELONG ACCUMULATION OF BEST FRIENDS THROUGH ELEMENTARY SCHOOL AND HIGH SCHOOL IN ELLICOTT CITY, FORGING FRIENDSHIPS THAT WOULD LAST BETTER THAN 50 YEARS. HIS FRIENDS ULTIMATELY BECAME THE SIBLINGS HE NEVER HAD. IN 1982, KENT’S NEXT TRIP WAS TO THE UNIVERSITY OF DELAWARE, WHERE HE GRADUATED IN 1986 WITH A DEGREE IN BUSINESS, BUT MOST IMPORTANTLY, ADDED ANOTHER CADRE OF COLLEGE FRIENDS WHO WOULD JOIN THE GROWING FREDERICK FAMILY. IN 1986, KENT RETURNED TO MARYLAND, ENTERED THE UNIVERSITY OF MARYLAND SCHOOL OF LAW AND GRADUATED IN 1989. KENT EMBARKED ON WHAT WOULD BECOME A REMARKABLE, HIGHLY DECORATED 37-YEAR CAREER WITH THE FEDERAL GOVERNMENT, FIRST WITH THE IMMIGRATION AND NATURALIZATION SERVICE, THEN WITH THE DEPARTMENT OF HOMELAND SECURITY, IMMIGRATION AND CUSTOMS ENFORCEMENT, UPON ITS CREATION AFTER 9/11. KENT WAS THE CHIEF COUNSEL OF THE PHILADELPHIA CHIEF COUNSEL’S OFFICE FOR OVER 30 YEARS, BUILDING AND OVERSEEING A STAFF THAT GREW FROM ONE ATTORNEY TO MORE THAN THIRTY, WITH OFFICES IN PHILADELPHIA AND YORK, AND AN AREA OF RESPONSIBILITY INCLUDING PENNSYLVANIA, DELAWARE, AND WEST VIRGINIA. UPON HIS RETIREMENT IN JUNE, HE WAS THE LONGEST-TENURED CHIEF COUNSEL IN THE COUNTRY, AND REVERED FOR HIS COMMITMENT TO HIS STAFF AND TO THE MISSION OF PROTECTING THE SECURITY OF THE UNITED STATES. WHILE HIS TIME WITH US WAS FAR TOO SHORT, KENT SQUEEZED EVERY POSSIBLE DROP HE COULD FROM LIFE. A VORACIOUS READER AND STUDENT OF HISTORY, HIS EDUCATION WAS A LIFELONG ENDEAVOR. HE WAS AN AVID TRAVELER, VISITING COUNTLESS COUNTRIES (LITERALLY, WE LOST COUNT) ON FOOT, BICYCLE, CAR, TAXI, TRAIN, AND BOAT. THE COUNTRY OF GERMANY, IN PARTICULAR, IS CERTAINLY RAISING A STEIN IN KENT’S MEMORY. KENT WAS A MASTER CRAFTSMAN AND LOVED RESTORING AND RESIDING IN HISTORIC HOUSES, INSISTING ON DOING VIRTUALLY ALL THE WORK HIMSELF, ALTHOUGH HE WAS ONCE ABLE TO PERSUADE HIS FRIENDS TO HELP HIM BUILD A WAY TOO LONG WOODEN POST AND BEAM FENCE, LIKE A MODERN DAY TOM SAWYER. WHILE A SOURCE OF FRUSTRATION IN RECENT YEARS, HIS LOVE FOR THE ORIOLES NEVER FADED, AND HE MADE A POINT OF GETTING TO AS MANY GAMES AS HE COULD EVERY SUMMER, USUALLY GRABBING DINNER AT TIO PEPE WHEN IN TOWN. KENT WAS PREDECEASED BY HIS FATHER, JAMES FREDERICK, AND KENT’S DEVOTION TO HIS FAMILY WAS EVIDENT IN HIS LOVING, DAILY CARE OF HIS DEVOTED MOM, EURLA, FOR DECADES, AND FOR WHOM KENT THREW A HEARTWARMING PARTY TO CELEBRATE HER 100TH BIRTHDAY EARLIER THIS SPRING. KENT IS SURVIVED BY EURLA AND THE JOYS OF HIS LIFE, HIS LOVING WIFE OF 26 YEARS, TRACI (NEE ROZELLE), THEIR TWO ADORING AND WONDERFUL CHILDREN, BLAIR AND HAYDN, AND AN ARRAY OF CLOSE FRIENDS WHO CONSIDER THEMSELVES KENT’S EXTENDED FAMILY. DETAILS CONCERNING A LIFE CELEBRATION WILL BE SHARED WITH FRIENDS AND FAMILY. DONATIONS IN KENT’S MEMORY CAN BE MADE TO THE ALZHEIMER’S ASSOCIATION, P.O. BOX 96011, WASHINGTON, DC 20090-6011. 800.272.3900

Kent James Frederick

August 9, 2025