Frederic Y. Wan was born in Shanghai, China in 1936. He graduated from Seattle’s Garfield High School and earned his undergraduate and graduate degrees from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, where he received his PhD in Mathematics in 1965 under the direction of Eric Reissner. After completing his studies, Frederic served as an instructor at MIT before becoming an Assistant Professor in 1967 and then an Associate Professor in 1969, focusing on Applied Mathematics. In 1974, he moved to the University of British Columbia as a Professor of Applied Mathematics and served as the inaugural director of the new Institute of Applied Mathematics and Statistics. Frederic significantly contributed to the establishment of the Canadian Applied Mathematics Society in 1979, serving as President from 1981 to 1983. He joined the University of Washington in 1988 and played a key role as the chair of the newly established Department of Applied Mathematics before later serving as Divisional Dean of Natural and Mathematical Sciences. He contributed to the National Science Foundation as Director of the Division of Mathematical Sciences and also held a parallel position with Canada's Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council from 1982 to 1983. In 1995, he joined the University of California, Irvine, as Vice Chancellor for Research and Dean of Graduate Studies, where he initiated the Program for Mathematical Computational Biology for undergraduate and graduate students. Now retired, Frederic is a Professor Emeritus at UCI and an Affiliate Professor in Applied Mathematics at the University of Washington. He is the author of five books and co-authored 150 research articles over his prolific career.