NAPLES, Fla. — Frederic Soper Newman, 96, of Bangor and Naples, Fla., died peacefully April 2.

He was born Sept. 15, 1916, in Milo, the second child of William Proctor Newman and Gertrude (Soper) Newman. The family moved to Bangor in 1922, and Frederic attended Bangor schools and graduated from Bangor High School. He attended Fryeburg Academy and graduated from Bowdoin College, Class of 1938.

After college, he accepted a position at the Manufacturers Trust in New York City. In 1941, he married Althea Gertrude Wildes. In 1943, after the birth of his first son, Frederic Jr., he was drafted into the U.S. Army. He served four years in Europe as an infantry officer.

In the final months of World War II, he was assigned to the Fifth Army Headquarters in Northern Italy. Frederic was then sent to Austria, where his first responsibility was to take a squad of GIs into the mountains around Salzburg, Austria and secure a Nazi loot train. The 21-car German train had been seized by the allies and was packed solidly with gold, silver, oriental carpets, paintings, diamonds and other precious gems. He supervised the inventory of the contents and found that most had been stolen from victims of the Holocaust. To the end of his life, he remained horrified and saddened at the human cost represented by such plunder.

Frederic continued his military career in the Allied occupation of Austria, where he was joined by Althea, Frederic Jr. and his second son, Paul, born in Bangor while Frederic served in Italy. In Vienna, Austria, he joined the Allied Finance Committee. With the Americans, Russians, French and English, he worked to restore the Austrian monetary system which had been subsumed by the German monetary system after the Anschluss. His third son, Robert and his fourth son, Thomas were born in Vienna.

Upon returning to the United States in 1952, he accepted a position with the Eastern Trust and Banking Co. in Bangor. His fifth son, Richard was born in Bangor. Frederic became president of the bank in 1965, and under his leadership the Eastern Trust and Banking Co. grew into the Northeast Bank Shares Association. He served as its chairman from 1976 to 1978.

During his business career, he was active on several boards including the Eastern Maine Medical Center Board, the Bangor Mechanics Association, the Maine YMCA Board of Trustees and the Salvation Army Board. Frederic was a trustee of the Hersey Fund, treasurer of the Katahdin Area Boy Scout Council and chairman of the 1962-63 Bowdoin College Capital Campaign.

He was an active member of All Souls Congregational Church and served the church as moderator, senior deacon and executive board member. He was a member of the Penobscot Valley Country Club and the Quail Run Golf Club of Naples, Fla. Frederic was a recipient of several honors including an honorary doctorate from Husson University, the Norbert X. Dowd Exemplary Citizen Award, the YMCA Hall of Fame Award and the Katahdin Area Boy Scout Council Silver Beaver Award. Upon retirement in 1978, he and Althea resided in Naples, Fla.

He is survived by five sons, Frederic Jr. and his wife, Hiroko, Paul and his wife, Martha, Robert and his wife, Patricia, Thomas and his wife, Renee and Richard and his wife, Heidi; 11 grandchildren, Karen Sims, Kristine Mackessy, Katherine Newman, Paul Newman, William Newman, Matthew Newman, Elyse Newman, Robert Newman, Holly Goguen, Michelle Gilbert and Kelly Newman; and five great-grandchildren, Alexandria Sims, Liam Mackessy, Kai Mackessy, Stella Newman and Kylie Newman.

Frederic was predeceased by his wife of 66 years, Althea (Wildes) Newman; two grandchildren, Scott Newman and Jennifer Newman; his brother, William Proctor Newman Jr.; and his sister, Louise (Newman) Allen.

Condolences to the family may be expressed at www.BrookingsSmith.com.