Fred Neil (Sigma Chi, '53) has been elected Vice Mayor of Dover, Delaware, at the age of 91 years young!

With nearly 67% of the votes in the third district race, Fra Neil beat Jo Ann Mather to reclaim his seat.

Interview at https://www.wboc.com/news/dover-city-councilman-fred-neil-re-elected-at-91-years-old/video_a699b443-0203-5cee-96af-0b07e755ee69.html

Councilman Fred Neil, a native of Baltimore, served two years in the U.S. Army. After graduating from the University of Maryland, he launched a decade-long career in radio news and sports. He won numerous peer-judged awards as News and Sports Director of a Baltimore radio station and produced the popular Baltimore Colts play-by-play broadcasts. He also co-hosted and/or produced a series with Hall of Famers, John Unitas, Art Donovan, and the Orioles’ Brooks Robinson, among others.

His other sports activities include hiring for radio and writing a book with the late Charlie Eckman, a great basketball referee and NBA Coach of the Year. The book is available in the Dover Library. Mr. Neil served as President of the Baltimore News Reporters, Baltimore Sports Reporters Associations, and the Maryland Press Club. Mr. Neil served as Media Director of the Laurel Race Course, in Maryland, and Charlestown and Shenandoah Downs Race Tracks in West Virginia. He was the General Manager of the Baltimore Banners team, in the World Team Tennis League.

He served as Press Officer for Baltimore Mayor William Donald Schaefer.

Mr. Neil won more awards in his 20-year role as Public Affairs officer of the Maryland Division of Vocational Rehabilitation including the Mayor’s Baltimore Best Honor. He was elected as President of the Maryland Vocational Rehabilitation Association and the Mid-Atlantic Administrators Association. In his community, he served as President of the Howard County Summer Theater, Howard County, MD, for five years.

Semi-retiring to Delaware in 2003, with his wife, Dawn, he served as President of the Wild Meadows Home Owners Association, which he resigned when elected to the Council. He also resigned as the volunteer Public Affairs Officer for the Delaware Manufactured Home Owners Association.

Mr. Neil has served on the Delaware Governor’s Council on Manufactured Housing and the Delaware Manufactured Home Relocation Authority and Chaired the Kent County Redistricting Committee in 2012.

He was honored as the 1st elected recipient of the Kent County Tourism Champion Award in 2017. In 2024, Mr. Neil received a Central Delaware Honorary Habitat Hero Award.

He has two sons and a daughter, six grandchildren in his own right, and two stepchildren, 5 step-grandchildren, and two great-grandchildren, courtesy of his spouse, Dawn.