Fred W. Thiele, Jr.
ADVISORY BOARD MEMBER
Fred W. Thiele Jr. (born August 8, 1953) is a lifelong resident of Sag Harbor. He graduated Albany Law School in 1979, was admitted to the New York Bar in 1980 and then served as counsel to the then-Assemblyman John Behan of Montauk. From 1982-1987, Fred was Southampton Town Attorney and was involved in the implementation of open space and environmental zoning and land preservation programs.
In November 1987, he was elected to the Suffolk County Legislature where he enacted legislation that nominated Peconic Bay and Gardiner’s Bay for the National Estuary Program.
In November 1991, Fred was elected Southampton Town Supervisor. He enacted a number of important initiatives including open space preservation, affordable housing, environmental protection, comprehensive long-term planning, economic development and government reform.
From 1995 to 2012, he was elected to the New York State Assembly for District 2, and from 2013 until his retirement in 2024, he served District 1. As an Assemblyman, Fred authored groundbreaking legislation which created the Peconic Bay Community Preservation Fund Act (CPF). He also was pivotal in other environmental initiatives, including State funds for improving water quality, Peconic Bay and South Shore Estuary projects, farmland preservation, and State acquisition of critical environmental parcels.
He is a lifelong amateur astronomer and had even considered a career in science; as he put it “I had a telescope and a weather station. I liked math and numbers. But in my senior year of high school I took calculus. That’s when I said ‘I think political science is my science.” Fred helped establish Hamptons Observatory and, over the years, has been a staunch supporter of its work. Fred states: “I am pleased to serve as an advisor to the Hamptons Observatory. Since my childhood, I have been an amateur astronomer and have owned a telescope for more than 60 years. It is a passion I now have more time to enjoy with retirement. I look forward to working with Hamptons Observatory to bring the wonders of the cosmos to as many East End residents as possible.”