Fred Fletcher, who has made significant contributions to two retiree groups at York University and has assumed key roles at the national level within CURAC, the College and University Retiree Associations of Canada, has received the 2024 CURAC Tribute Award. He was jointly nominated for this distinguished honour by YURA and ARFL (the Association of Retired Faculty and Librarians at York University). The annual awards were announced at the 2024 Annual CURAC Conference, held at the University of Waterloo May 22 to 24.
Since formal retirement in 2006, Fred has been a member of both retiree groups, YURA and ARFL, at York University. He has served as Secretary of the Executive Committee of ARFL and as editor of the AFRL newsletter; for almost a decade, he has been the ARFL representative on the YURA Executive Committee, ensuring a strong connection between the two groups and the sharing of important relevant information. At the national level, he was elected to the CURAC Board in 2015 and chaired its Communications Committee from 2015-2023. He served as editor of the CURAC Newsletter in 2018 and as Vice-President of the CURAC Board in 2021-22. His committee work with CURAC included the Finance Committee, the Later Life Learning Committee and assisting with organizing the annual conference.
This summary of activities and roles provides clear evidence of Fred’s strong commitment to advancing the well-being and interests of retirees at the local and national levels. What the summary does not capture is the energy and goodwill with which Fred made numerous contributions that were possible only because of his unique position at the crossroads of several organizations. He has sought to convey important, useful, and timely information, for example, by sharing his expertise on how to craft and conduct membership surveys. He has been indefatigable in advocating for ARFL, YURA and CURAC and how each organization can support and strengthen the others. Fred seeks to inspire individual retirees to stay engaged and keep learning, and to empower retiree groups to effectively advocate on behalf of retirees. Fred is a role model for many retirees at York University and is highly deserving of the CURAC Tribute Award.
At the conference in Waterloo, Fred was also presented with the CURAC Appreciation Award by the Board of Directors of CURAC for his exemplary leadership to the organization.
at the 2024 CURAC Conference