Fred Finger

Fred grew up in the Chelsea neighborhood of Manhattan, the son of a artistic mother, Portia and cartoonist, Bill (famous as the co-creator of Batman). His parents divorced when he was young, but they were both very present in his life. In his early teens he began to venture to Washington Square Park and the MacDougal St. coffee houses. He drew all the time, obviously influenced by his cartoonist father. Pot smoking was ubiquitous, but drinking and other drugs were not. With his friends, including Evan and teri, he ventured to the ‘scene’ on Greenwich Ave. and Christopher St.. In the late 60s he moved into an apartment with their friends Will Rafford and Emilio Cuberio on the corner of 10 th St. & 7 th Ave. Many incredible parties were had there. Fred’s sexuality was always fluid but he had a grand time in their gay household. For a while he had an apartment in the East Village with a writer named Henry Flesh.(They actually had a door buzzer that read "Flesh-Finger".)

In the late 60s he moved to a townhouse in Borum Hill, Brooklyn with a couple, Donald and Christopher. Teri stayed with him there when she returned from San Francisco, ill, in the spring of 1971. He took care of her until she recovered and went to stay with her aunt and uncle in Upstate NY. The following year she moved to E. 6 th St. where Fred was a frequent visitor.

In the early 70s Fred went to the West Coast; first to San Francisco and then to work as a chef at a ski resort in Washington State. There he met Bonnie, married and had a daughter, Athena. Some time in the mid-80s he returned to NYC. He visited his friend, Evan at Mt. Sinai hospital in the Fall of 1986 and renewed his friendship with teri.

He discovered he was HIV+ and was able to find housing with a couple Chuck and John in a Brooklyn brownstone. Luckily one of them was a nurse and was able to care for Fred when he became seriously ill. He died peacefully at home, with teri at his side. Fred was a talented artist, great chef and generally wonderful person. Because he was not a classic ‘beauty’ he always has self-esteem issues, which in a kinder world would have been overshadowed by his talents, brilliance and kind nature.

written by teriananda