Fred Otto passed away March 29, 2025, at Northern Light Hospital in Bangor, Maine, a couple of hours after suffering a stroke, at the age of 90. Fred Bishop Otto was born August 17, 1934, at Eastern Maine General Hospital, the son of Carl E. and Edna (Bishop) Otto. He lived in Orono until June 1940, when the family moved to Maryland where his father was stationed during WWII. The family moved back to Orono in June 1946. Fred graduated from Orono High School in 1952 and the University of Maine in 1956 with a BS in Engineering Physics. He earned a Master's and a Ph.D. in Physics from the University of Connecticut. In 1957, Fred married the love of his life, Alma Merrill, whom he met at an event at the Maine Christian Association at the University of Maine. Together, they welcomed four children, six grandchildren and two great-grandchildren both born in 2024. Fred was very proud of them all and enjoyed being a part of their lives. Fred's career started in Massachusetts, where he received a patent while working as an electrical engineer for Sylvania Electric in the semiconductor and lighting division. After finishing his Ph.D., he served as a professor at Colby College, the University of Maine, Maine Maritime Academy and Husson College. Fred co-authored a college physics laboratory manual and edited several physics textbooks. Fred always loved teaching, whether he was being paid for it or not. He also worked as an electrical engineer for Eaton Tarbell and Associates Architects in Bangor, Maine, and Pyr-A-Larm in Brewer, Maine, and ran his own engineering consulting business for several years. Fred had infinite curiosity. He loved learning, always asking questions, solving puzzles, figuring out how things work, trying new things and meeting new people, and thus he had a vast array of involvements and interests. Fred actively lent his time, skills and enthusiasm to many organizations. Scouting played an important part in his life. He became an Eagle Scout with Silver Palm in 1949 and attended the Boy Scout World Jamboree in Austria when he was 16. As an adult, he served as an Assistant Scoutmaster and Scoutmaster of Troop 47/478 in Orono and on numerous Katahdin Area Council committees. Fred loved creating the huge, themed entrance to the summer scout camp each year and teaching kids how to tie every kind of knot. He even served one year as a Girl Scout leader! He was awarded the Boy Scouts of America Silver Beaver Award, the District Lifetime Achievement Award, and a 65-Year Veteran Pin. He joined the Orono-Old Town Kiwanis Club in 2001 and never stopped actively participating in its yearly auctions, ushering at UMaine football and hockey games, constructing and distributing bikes for kids, and adding creative elements to the kids Christmas parties. He was awarded Kiwanian of the Year in 2011 and 2016 and was presented the Kiwanis Red Jacket in 2016. Fred was also involved with the Orono Masonic Temple and Anah Shrine in Bangor, earning the Mason of the Year Award in 2007 and 2014. He was a trustee and active member of the Orono United Methodist Church for many years. He also spent many years delivering Meals on Wheels, driving folks to medical appointments for Orono Community Health, helping with Special Olympics, volunteering at the American Folk Festival at the Bangor Waterfront, and so much more. Fred had so many hobbies! He loved sailing and took family members sailing on his Lonestar 16, "Windswept", every chance that he got for over 50 years. Another favorite activity was working with theater groups. Fred began helping with stage lighting in college and later started his own theater lighting rental company, Otto Lighting Service. He "ran the lights" for more than a hundred productions throughout Maine and continued to rent/loan equipment for the rest of his life. Fred earned his private pilot's license in 1976. He restored the 1931 Reo Flying Cloud automobile that brought him home from the hospital when he was born, and he continued to drive it in parades and special occasions as recently as 2024. Fred also became a licensed fireworks operator in 1976, and for the next 33 years, while working with Blue Hill Pyrotechnics, got a bang out of setting off close to a hundred public displays. He worked as a limousine driver in his retirement as "a fun way to meet people" and volunteered as "Mr. Wizard" at the Maine Discovery Museum in Bangor, sharing his enthusiasm for learning and science with kids of all ages. For many years in retirement, Fred and his wife, Alma, enjoyed taking a wide range of classes together through the Senior College at the University of Maine, and he was asked to teach some as well. Fred was always striking up conversations and making corny jokes with anyone he met. He loved to help anyone in any way that he could and could always be found fixing things everywhere he went because he could do everything - plumbing, carpentry, electrical, or anything else he set his mind to. He found it fun to make improvements and rescue and fix broken items rather than replace them. In any and every way that he could, Fred would seek to "leave it better than he found it." We are all grateful for all that he did with us and taught us and the example that he gave us. Fred is survived by his wife of 67 years, Alma Merrill Otto; his children, Janet Otto of Annandale, Virginia; Nancy Jessen and husband Peder, of Annandale, Virginia; Robert Otto and wife Debra of Fairfax, Virginia; Kathryn Ward and husband Karl of Cape Coral, Florida; grandchildren Annika Jessen and husband Sean Fitzgibbons of Savannah, Georgia; Jennifer Jessen and partner Danny Marcinek of Raleigh, North Carolina; Daniel Jessen and wife Emily of Centreville, Virginia; Katelyn Ward and husband Calvin Robbins of Birmingham, Michigan; Ryan Ward and fiancé Alexandra Murphy of Hamden, Connecticut, and Braeden Ward of Beverly, Massachusetts; and great-grandchildren Maverick Ward Robbins and Bjørn Otto Fitzgibbons. A celebration of life will be held 4 p.m. Saturday, April 12, 2025, at the Orono United Methodist Church. In lieu of flowers please consider a contribution of your time or money to support one of Fred's favorite organizations he volunteered with or those dear to you. Burial will at Riverside Cemetery, Orono