Fred Kort, professor emeritus at the University of Connecticut, passed away at the age of 85 on July 17, 2004, after a long battle with cancer. Born in Vienna, Fred witnessed the rise of the Nazis and was a student of law at the University of Vienna until 1938 when Jewish students were expelled. As a result, Fred emigrated to the United States in 1939. In 1942 he volunteered for the U.S. Army and returned to Europe with the 11th Armored Division, fought in the Battle of the Bulge and other engagements, and eventually was stationed in Vienna. Upon his return to the United States, Fred enrolled at Northwestern University in 1946, earning his B.A., M.A., and Ph.D. in four years. He joined the department of political science at the University of Connecticut in 1950 and taught for 40 years, retiring in 1990.

Fred Kort was a pioneer in the use of quantitative methods for the study of judicial behavior. He was a Law and Behavior Science Fellow at the University of Chicago Law School in 1958–1959, and was one of the early users of the Univac1 computer as a research tool. He was a research associate at the MIT Computation Center in 1961. Among his important contributions were “Predicting Supreme Court Decisions Mathematically: A Quantitative Analysis of the ‘Right to Counsel’ Cases” (American Political Science Review, 1957); “Simultaneous Equations and Boolean Algebra in the Analysis of Judicial Decisions” (Law and Contemporary Problems, 1963); “Quantitative Analysis of Fact-Patterns in Cases and Their Impact on Judicial Decisions” (Harvard Law Review, 1966); “A Nonlinear Model for the Analysis of Judicial Decisions” (American Political Science Review, 1968); and A Special and a General Multivariate Theory of Judicial Decisions (Sage, 1977). Fred also published numerous other articles and book chapters, including three other articles in the American Political Science Review.

Later in his career, Fred's research interest turned to the biological determinants of political behavior. This retooling in a completely different subfield was characteristic of how intellectually venturous Fred was. This new interest led to articles such as “An Evolutionary-Neurobiological Explanation of Political Behavior and the Lumsden-Wilson ‘Thousand-Year Rule’” (1983) and “Considerations for a Biological Basis of Civil Rights and Liberties” (1986), both in the Journal of Social and Biological Structures. He also presented papers on his bio-politics research at meetings around the world, including the Gruter Institute for Law and Behavior Science, the Fifth International Conference on Human Ethology, and the International Society for Political Psychology.

Fred was a dedicated and respected teacher. In 1964, UConn students voted him the “best teacher on campus.” Many of his graduate students, now on the faculty of numerous institutions, have made their mark as teachers and scholars. In 2003, Fred was recognized by the American Political Science Association for his 50 years of contributions to the discipline. As a mentor, Fred was ahead of his time in encouraging talented women.

Fred Kort was a gentleman and a person of high integrity. He will be remembered as an outstanding scholar, an excellent teacher, and a valuable member of the community. He leaves his wife of 58 years, Ruth, two children, and six grandchildren. He is sorely missed by his colleagues, students, and friends.