He was born and raised on the East End. He went to college on the East End. He has served the East End in government for over 30 years, representing both the North and South Forks in Albany since 1995, and is passing the torch to the next generation when the next State Assembly takes office. For these reasons, Assemblyman Fred W. Thiele Jr. is Dan’s Papers’ 2024 Person of the Year.
Thiele was born in Southampton in 1953. A graduate of Pierson High School in Sag Harbor, Thiele spent his freshman year of college at Cornell University before family circumstances brought him back downstate to Southampton College, now known as Stony Brook Southampton.
