Frederick F. Reese

Frederick Focke Reese (October 23, 1854 – December 22, 1936) was the fourth Bishop of Georgia. Reese was the 238th bishop of the Episcopal Church in the United States of America (ECUSA).

Life Frederick Focke Reese was born in Baltimore, Maryland, on October 23, 1854. He attended the University of Virginia, where he joined the Fraternity of Delta Psi ( St. Anthony Hall) in 1875. He graduated from the University of Maryland and Berkeley Theological Seminary before his ordination to the diaconate in 1876 by Bishop William Rollinson Whittingham and priesthood in 1877 by Bishop William Pinkney. He served as an Episcopal priest in Baltimore, Virginia, and for Christ Church in Macon, Georgia, before becoming the Rector of Christ Church, Nashville.

He received his D.D. from the University of Georgia in 1900. By 1913, there were two predominantly Black parishes in the Diocese, St. Athanasius Church, Brunswick, and St. Stephen's, Savannah, as well as thirteen predominantly Black missions.

On the twentieth anniversary of his consecration, at the convention in 1928, Reese asked about disappearing communicants, noting the 5,290 people he had confirmed in 20 years. He said,Are we so unconcerned or so powerless that we can do nothing? ...We must be aggressive, though wise, on the offensive. He went on to encourage laypersons to a "lay ministry of personal evangelism." In the year of his retirement, 1934, the Diocese had its highest number of confirmations to date at 319. He died in Savannah on December 22, 1936.

The Episcopal camp on Saint Simons Island was named in his honor. After that was sold and the camp and conference center was moved to its current location on Honey Creek in Camden County, the dining hall at that new facility was named the Reese Dining Hall for Reese.

He was succeeded by Middleton S. Barnwell as Bishop of Georgia.