Frederic W. (Frederic Wadsworth) Loring

Born in Boston in 1848, Frederic Wadsworth Loring was an American journalist, novelist, and poet whose promise was clear from an early age. He studied at Phillips Academy and then Harvard, where he became known for his writing in student literary circles before graduating in 1870.

Loring wrote with range and ambition, moving between verse, fiction, and magazine work. His best-known novel, Two College Friends, drew on university life and helped establish his reputation as a remarkably accomplished young author.

His life ended suddenly in 1871 while he was traveling in Arizona as a correspondent. That early death gave his career a tragic brevity, but it also left behind the picture of a writer of unusual charm and talent who achieved a great deal in very little time.