Brian Frazier ’89

Brian Frazier ’89 died from a heart attack in October 2023, as announced by the U.S. attorney in the Middle District of Louisiana, where Brian had served since 2018 as assistant U.S. attorney and deputy chief of the special matters unit. At Dartmouth Brian joined the history foreign study program in London, double-majored in history and government, and went on to receive a master’s in philosophy at the University of Cambridge and a law degree from Yale. Following time in private practice in his hometown of Nashville, he began a 25-year career at the U.S. Department of Justice. As an assistant U.S. attorney in the Southern District of Florida following the 9/11 attacks, Brian prosecuted major crimes with an emphasis on national security. In 2008 he was appointed resident legal advisor for the U.S. embassy of the United Arab Emirates and Gulf Region, serving as legal attaché to eight Middle Eastern countries on money laundering, weapons proliferation, threat finance, and terrorism issues. He later returned to Miami, where he supervised trial teams that convicted ISIS and al-Qaeda extremists and coordinated efforts in prosecuting high-profile domestic terrorism incidents, including the shooting at Pulse Nightclub. Brian also led the team that successfully prosecuted Jose Padilla, the U.S. citizen and designated enemy combatant who trained with al-Qaeda in Afghanistan. Brian received multiple government honors, including the Justice Department’s highest award—the Attorney General’s Award for Exceptional Service—for the prosecution of Padilla. Classmates remember his intellectual curiosity, buoyant greetings, and love of debate.