Fred Iltis

Who was Fred Iltis?

Fred Iltis is an American entomologist.

In 1939, when the Nazis threatened to invade his country, Fred fled with his family to Fredericksburg, Virginia. During WWII he served in the Army in the South Pacific. Fred went on to earn his Ph.D. in entomology at University of California, Davis.

In 1948 he married Julia, a graphic artist, who preceded him in death in 2004. After settling in San Jose, California in the 60s, Fred taught in the biology department at San José State University.

His research focus was on the biosystematics and the life cycle of mosquitoes. Fred Iltis was also an exceptional photographer. Many photos of his vast archive are about the Civil rights movement in the 60s, the student protest against the Vietnam War, the struggle of the chicano agricultural workers led by César Chávez and Dolores Huerta, the strikes and boycott of the American fruit companies. He met and befriended the renowned photojournalists Hansel Mieth and Otto Hagel, who had illustrated on Life the Great Depression of the 30s. They talked Fred into the fact that “a photo can express one’s ideas and ideals far better than a thousand words”.