Fred Norman Balet, 77, died Thursday, June 8, 2017 at his home Delray Beach Florida after a 5 year struggle with Parkinson's disease. He leaves his wife of 54 years, Marsha (Levinson) Balet; his brother Marc Balet; his daughter Suki Parsons and her husband Chris Parsons; his son Steven Balet and his wife Mindy Borisoff; four grandchildren - Ranger, Harlie, Raphaela and Samuel and many close family and dear friends. Born in Brooklyn and raised in Waterbury, CT, the son of Hy and Rose Balet, he was a previous resident of Green Valley, Arizona for ten wonderful years and lived the majority of his life in East Hartford, CT - a town he cared about deeply. Fred met his true love at a beach party at Savon Rock in New Haven and married Marsha 5 years later in August of 1963. After attending Quinnipiac College, Mr. Balet joined the Army. After completing his service he went on to graduate from Southern Connecticut State University and then became the first man to earn a master's degree in child development from the University of Connecticut. After time spent teaching at the Hartford Public schools and working for the Connecticut courts advising on custody issues, Fred started East Hartford's first youth services department in 1971, counseling troubled youth. Fred began serving as East Hartford's Park and Recreation director in 1977 and started the 4th of July River Festival. Fred ended his fulltime career working with the wonderful and supportive people at M.E Obrien & Sons. Fred was active politically in East Hartford and served as Town Chairman of the Republican Party and also served on the Connecticut Republican State Central Committee. During his tenure as town chairman, the mayor, 4 of nine council people and 3 of 4 state representatives were republican despite the fact the town had a 5 to 1 Democratic Party majority. This truly was a reflection of his strength of leadership and influence within the community. Fred also served as President of Temple Beth Shalom in East Hartford twice. Fred rejoined the military reserves in 1978 and served an additional 17 years with the 465th Military Intelligence Detachment where he not only excelled and received commendations for his service, but where he made lifelong close friends. Fred enjoyed making people smile, particularly children. His only true hobby was being a husband, father and friend. His laugh, his kindness, his love and his smile will be sorely missed by all who knew him. The funeral was held graveside on Wednesday, June 14th at Beth David Cemetery at 300 Elmont Road, Elmont, NY 11003. The family will be sitting Shiva on Wednesday and Thursday at Steven and Mindy's residence. The Shiva will go from 2pm to 9pm Wednesday the 14th and 3pm to 8pm on Thursday the 15th. In lieu of flowers please feel free to donate to the wounded warriors project https://support.woundedwarriorproject.org/default.aspx?tsid=7792