July 27, 2017
Volume 47 - No. 29
By Friedrich Gomez
He was only a high school dropout, yet he founded a college which eventually would become known as Walsh University, now in Canton, Ohio.
He ran away from home at the tender age of 16, without completing his high school education and yet, in time, he would pose as a fake doctor, successfully performing major, complex surgeries.
He gave the word ‘identity theft’ new meaning back in the 1940s, 50s, and 60s until death stopped his masquerades in 1982.
IM MPO MPO OST O ST S TOR TOR R nand Walddo Ferdin
History is replete with famous imposters, but none such as this one.
His true name was Ferdinand Waldo Demara, Jr. and he proceeded to stun the world by successfully masquerading as a civil engineer, a lawyer, a doctor of psychology, prison warden (twice), sheriff’s deputy, a Benedictine monk, a Trappist monk, an editor, a cancer research scientist, college professor, child-care expert, dean of philosophy at a Pennsylvania college, zoology graduate, ship’s doctor and the list goes on and on. Had he never really existed in the flesh, such exploits would have been considered too far-fetched to be placed in the non-fiction section of any library. Even by Hollywood movie-making standards, such a script might be rejected as being too embellished for a documentary – perhaps better suited for the genre of fantasy fiction, such as found in blockbuster movies such as “The Transformers,” today. Yet, he did exist. And he was a ‘transformer,’ in the purest sense of that word.
Amazingly, he truly transformed into the roles of many elite individuals by forgery, faked documents, and other insidious means of identity theft. Furthermore, a book would be written about his life in 1960, aptly titled “The Great Imposter,” which became an instant New York Times bestseller. Followed by a second book, titled “The Rascal and the Road.” A year later, in 1961, Hollywood followed suit with its worldwide release of the motion picture, “The The Paper - 760.747.7119 The Paper - 760.747.7119 website:www.thecommunitypaper.com website:www.thecommunitypaper.com email: thepaper@cox.net email: thepaper@cox.net
Demara impersonating a surgeon under the name of Drr.. Joseph seph Cyr in Canada’s Royal Navy
Great Imposter” starring Tony Curtis.
He was born almost 100 years ago as Ferdinand Waldo Demara, Jr., on December 21, 1921, in Lawrence, Massachusetts. While growing up in the lower southwest area of Lawrence, he was simply called “Fred” instead of Ferdinand by friends and neighbors.
Fred’s father, Ferdinand Waldo Demara, Sr., worked in the old Theatre District in Lawrence as a movie projector operator. He prospered enough to relocate the entire family to the more affluent area on Jackson Street, an upper-class section of the city known as Tower Hill Neighborhood. Unfortunately, as with many others, Obituaries Memorials Area Services Page 12
Fred’s father was hit hard by the Great Depression which necessitated the family to move from the more exclusive Tower Hill Neighborhood to a much poorer area of town. During these financially-hard times, young Demara, Jr. decided to run away from home in 1937 when he was only sixteen years old and proceeded to join the Cistercian monks in Rhode Island. The rigorous selfdenying life of a monk proved too austere for him so he moved on.
Demara began his great imposter lifestyle when he joined the United States Army in 1941. It was there when Demara borrowed the name of his Army buddy, Anthony Ignolia, and decided to go AWOL (absent without authorized leave).
The Great Imposter Continued on Page 2
Still AWOL from the U. S. Army, he then joined the U. S. Navy and trained as a hospital corpsman. Not satisfied with his training career he decided to fake his own suicide masterfully. He did so by leaving a small parcel (a package wrapped in paper) with a few clothes inside. All this he left on the wharf, close to the loading-and-unloading area for ships. The topper was that he even left a most convincing suicide note, complete with emotional farewell. His life of deception was off to a nefarious start.
At one time he stole the identity of a certain Dr. Robert L. French, a Naval officer who held a Ph.D in religious psychology. Posing as a fake professor, Demara taught bril-