DIANE BELL

When Frye joined the committee’s Zoom call, he was wearing pajamas, noted participant George Gildred. Frye later confided that he wondered why his wife, Joy (who was in on the surprise), had tried to get him to put on a Hawaiian shirt for the online video conference.

“Initially he was at a

loss of words, which is rare for him,” observed Rotary Executive Director Paul Devermann. “He is very humble and very grateful.”

Local Make-A-Wish Foundation CEO Christopher Sichel, the club’s president, describes Frye as “a gentle giant who always highlights the good works of others. It’s never about him, always about others.”

In the late 1960s, Frye helped start an outpatient

clinic and a genetics clinic at Children’s Hospital. In the early ’70s, through what is now known as California Children Services, he set up an amputee clinic and directed cleft palate and cerebral palsy clinics. Many of his patients were MexicanAmerican, prompting Frye to speak Spanish so “the kids wouldn’t be afraid to come to the doctor.”

After retiring from daily practice, Frye joined Aetna

International as a global medical director involved in its health delivery to countries in Latin and South America as well as in Southeast Asia, India and New Zealand.

In his spare time, Frye was often racing sailboats. He won the Transpac race to Hawaii in his boat class in 1997. When the United States won the America’s Cup back from the Australians in 1987, Frye was commodore of the San Diego

Yacht Club and accepted the trophy in Perth.

Joy, his wife of 65 years, notes that he ran a segment of the cross-country Olympic torch relay twice, during the 1984 Summer Olympics in Los Angeles and the 1996 Summer Olympics in Atlanta.

The 2020 “Mr. San Diego” ceremony generally takes place at a luncheon organized by Rotary, with the mayor, civic leaders and other speakers in attendance. It is scheduled for Nov. 19. A link to the virtual event will be posted on the SanDiegoRotary.club website.

The word “humble” was used repeatedly in describing this year’s honoree.

It was clearly ref lected in Frye’s Golden Rule of life: “Ser vice above self is the most important thing a person can do in taking care of others.”