[1] He was born as Charles Gerald Fraser Jr. in Boston, Massachusetts, on July 30, 1925, to parents who had migrated to the United States from the Caribbean.
There, as Herb Boyd notes, "he covered everything from crime, housing integration, social affairs, economic issues, civil rights, education and labor.
'"[3] Fraser subsequently worked at the United Nations for several West Indian publications, prior to being hired by the New York Daily News.
[3] Later colleague Pranay Gupte, commenting in the Huffington Post on those "tough years in the journalism of an era where blacks weren't necessarily welcomed and their acuity questioned", recalled: "Gerry Fraser overcame by the sheer sturdiness of character.
[2][3] At the time of his death, he was due to be honored in the 2016 Hall of Fame of the National Association of Black Journalists as a pioneer and "inspirational mentor for generations of reporters".