UPDATED as of Oct. 28, 2014, 8:30 a.m. – THE SECOND Filipino rector of
the University of Santo Tomas, Fr. Frederik Fermin, O.P., passed away Monday
evening at the age of 90.
Fermin, who hailed from Nijmegen, the Netherlands, came to
the country in 1962 and became a Filipino citizen through naturalization in
1976.
Fermin served as rector of the University from 1978 to 1981,
succeeding Fr. Leonardo Legaspi, O.P., the first Filipino rector of UST who
became auxiliary bishop of Manila and archbishop of Caceres (Naga).
During Fermin’s term as rector, he established the
Department of Languages, which took charge of Filipino, English, French,
German, and Nihongo. Fermin also served as dean of the Faculty of Arts and
Letters and rector of the Central Seminary.
His cremated remains are expected to arrive from Baguio at noontime on Oct. 29. A necrological service and Funeral Mass will be held in the afternoon of the same day at Santisimo Rosario Parish in UST.
Fermin’s ashes will be placed at Santuario de Sto. Domingo in Quezon City, at the back of Sto. Domingo Church, the mother church of Filipino Dominicans. Marie Danielle L. Macalino
