Nathaniel “Nat” Frothingham, 86, died peacefully on Friday, March 13, 2026, at Central Vermont Medical Center, after a short illness.
Born on March 29, 1939, in Hyannis, Mass., the second child of Theodore “Ted” Frothingham of Bass River, Cape Cod, and Nanneen P. Rebori of Chicago, Nat grew up in Chicago with his sister, their mother and their grandfather, architect Andrew Rebori.
Nat earned his BA Hons in English literature in 1961 from Harvard College. He traveled to Uganda and Kenya with Teachers for East Africa, studying for a diploma in education at Makerere University College, Kampala, then teaching at the Alliance High School in Kenya.
Returning to the U.S., Nat obtained his master’s in education from the Harvard Graduate School of Education. He moved to Vermont in 1971. Here he dedicated himself to serving the central Vermont community with vision, integrity and ingenuity.
He worked initially as a teacher at Randolph Union High School, then in campaigning and the arts as a writer and fundraiser, but it is for his role as business manager, associate editor, then editor and publisher of the Bridge newspaper in Montpelier that Nat may be most remembered. Beginning with a meeting with friend Phil Dodd at Montpelier’s Horn of the Moon Café in May 1993, the idea to create a new independent local newspaper took root, with Nat at its heart. Nat’s 25 years of dedicated service at the Bridge up until his retirement in June 2018 combined sheer determination with a commitment to in-depth analysis of the key community issues and an insightful editorial approach. Nat was honored in May 2018 in Concurrent House Resolution 401 of the State of Vermont House of Representatives.
Nat was married three times. He is survived by two daughters, two nephews and several cousins. He was preceded in death by his second wife, his sister and his half siblings.
A public celebration of Nat’s life will be held on Saturday, August 15, 2026, 3 p.m., at the Unitarian Church of Montpelier. All are welcome. Donations in Nat’s memory can be made to the Bridge, the Adamant Co-op or Heaton Woods Residence in Montpelier, where Nat was cared for with love and dignity in the last months of his life.