Described as a “brilliant, sensitive, and gentle man,” Frederick S. Cheesman “focused his career on publishing reprints of historic texts and new research from many leading 19th and 20th-century economists while helping libraries at universities around the world to build collections that would attract and serve scholars in their advanced research and work,” his husband, William J. Horn Jr., wrote.
Mr. Cheesman, who lived in the Settlers Landing area of East Hampton, died on Feb. 1 at NYU Langone Medical Center in Manhattan of complications of acute myeloid leukemia. He was 77.
In East Hampton, where he had a house for 42 years, he “embraced the natural environment” and “loved living in the woods with no lawn” but surrounded by trees, mosses, and other plants that attracted the birds he enjoyed feeding and caring for, Mr. Horn said.
An enthusiastic cook, he was a fan of Julia Child and Rachael Ray, and was a regular at Round Swamp Farm in East Hampton, where he appreciated the “prepared foods, produce, baked goods, and especially its caring and devoted staff,” his husband said.
Mr. Cheesman was known for “his ability to rapidly complete New York Times crossword puzzles and his competitiveness in online word and card games. He loved ocean cruises, excelled at trivia, and wherever he went enjoyed the company of friends, the antics of chipmunks, and local birds, butterflies, flora, and fauna.”
He was active in the Settlers Landing Property Owners Association here as well.
Mr. Cheesman was born at home in Maple Shade, N.J., on Sept. 23, 1945, to Stanton Clark Cheesman and the former Eleanor Essel. After graduating from high school in New Jersey, he attended the New York University School of Business on a full scholarship and later earned an M.B.A. at N.Y.U.’s Graduate School of Business.
He fell in love with the city and made his career there, beginning part-time work at AM Kelley Publishing while still an undergrad. The company’s focus was historical and frontier research in economics. He would remain there for many years, eventually running it as operations director.
He enjoyed ocean cruises, particularly on the Queen Mary 2, on which he celebrated his 77th birthday in September.
In addition to his husband, with whom he had shared 43 years, Mr. Cheesman is survived by a sister, Marie Lombard of Mantua, N.J.
A memorial Mass was said on April 11 at Church of St. Francis Xavier in Manhattan with Father Kenneth Boller, S.J., officiating. Mr. Cheesman was cremated.
His husband suggested donations in his memory to acute myeloid leukemia research or a favorite L.G.B.T.Q.+ organization.