Born: December 18, 1848, Middletown, Connecticut.
Died: December 6, 1903, Chicago, Illinois.
Buried: Cedar Hill Cemetery, Hartford, Connecticut.
Gleason was the son of Frederic Lathrop Gleason and Martha Willard, and husband of Mabel Blanche Kennicott.
His father, a banker and amateur flautist, wanted him to enter the ministry, but eventually accepted Fred’s decision to become a composer instead.
Gleason studied in Hartford under Dudley Buck, then in 1869 went to Leipzig, Germany, to study with Ignaz Moscheles and Hans Richter.
After six years in Europe, he returned to America, and served as a church organist. In 1877, he moved to Chicago to join the faculty of the Hershey School of Music.
In 1897, Gleason became president of the American Patriotic Musical League, later served as general director of the Chicago Conservatory (1900–03).