Frederic Sharf

Frederic Alan Sharf, of Palm Beach, a businessman, philanthropist, scholar and avid collector of forgotten treasures, died Monday, Nov. 27, 2017 in West Palm Beach after a long illness. He was 83. Mr. Sharf, who turned down a job teaching history at Harvard University to go into the family business, channeled his love of history into collecting. He sought things that were overlooked by other collectors, sometimes as they were about to be discarded. Mr. Sharf was born Aug. 13, 1934, in Boston. He attended Phillips Academy, Andover in Massachusetts and graduated in 1956 from Harvard University. He earned a master’s degree in history from Harvard before joining his father and uncle in M. Sharf & Co. in Boston. Mr. Sharf built the business into a sports marketing and management company offering services to professional ice hockey and tennis athletes. In addition to Palm Beach, he and his wife resided in New York and Boston. He was a trustee of the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston; The Essex Institute (a forerunner of the Peabody Essex Museum in Salem, Mass.); and The Wolfsonian-FIU in Miami Beach, as well as Beth Israel Hospital and Brigham and Women’s Hospital in Boston. In 2016, Mr. Sharf and his wife, Jean, donated $1 million to MorseLife in West Palm Beach for the senior care facility’s welcome center. In addition to his wife, Mr. Sharf is survived by a daughter, Lisa Sharf Green; a son-in-law, Eric Green; and two grandchildren, Parker Green and Bennett Green of New York City.