Frederick Edwin Camfield

Frederick Edwin Camfield

April 28, 1936 – June 11, 2025

Frederick (known as Teddy to his family) was born in Port Townsend, Washington on April 28, 1936 to Gladys (Calhoun) and Warner B. (Tom) Camfield, and died in Vicksburg, Mississippi on June 11, 2025. Fred was the youngest of four sons: Thomas, Richard (deceased), and Ronald (deceased). After and graduating from Port Townsend High School, class of 1954, he received a B.S. degree from Washington State University (1958) and M.S. (1964) and Ph.D. (1968) from Stanford University.

Fred’s Ph.D. dissertation topic on solitary waves led to a long interest in coastal hazards. After spending a post-doctoral year at Stanford University and a year at Oregon State University, Fred was a faculty member at the University of Delaware with a joint appointment in the College of Engineering and the College of Marine Sciences. That was followed by long-term employment at the Coastal Engineering Research Center of the US Army Corps of Engineers, first in Fort Belvoir, Virginia, and later in Vicksburg, Mississippi, where his first work assignments were related to tsunamis. Over the following years, his work expanded into a broader area of coastal hazards. He wrote papers, contributed to various publications, developed workshops and symposia, organized conferences, and provided technical

information on sea level rise for the United States’ input to the IPCC – Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change.

In 1996, Fred retired from the Coastal and Hydraulics Laboratory, US Army Engineer Waterways Experiment Station in Vicksburg. From 1995 to 2015, he served in several Executive Committee positions for his international organization (IAPSO – International Association for the Physical Sciences of the Oceans). Fred had numerous professional society memberships.

In addition to eldest brother Tom (Jean), in Port Townsend, survivors include niece Pamela (Corvallis, Oregon), nephew Kevin and niece Janice (both of Port Townsend), five great nieces and nephews and three great, great nieces and nephew. After settling in Mississippi, Fred developed close ties with people there that he considered his second family. He traveled extensively, both professionally and for pleasure. He will be remembered and missed by many as a kind and generous man.

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