A metal bench bearing the name of Frederick Herbert Kresse now sits outside the Starbucks in Needham Heights, placed there by the friends who used to gather with him after long weekend bike rides.

The Needham Community Revitalization Trust Fund installed the bench on Friday, July 10, at the spot where Kresse and his cycling companions met for years. Kresse, who died July 11, 2024, at age 93, rode with the Charles River Wheelers into his 80s and once pedaled 83 miles on his 83rd birthday.

His riding group called themselves the "Royal Order of the Knights of the Square Table." After rides that took them through Dover, Medfield, and sometimes as far as Montreal, they'd pull up chairs at the Needham Heights cafe to talk politics, philosophy, and the environment.

"He just loved to engage with people as much as possible, talking all things political, environmental, philosophical," said Rick Vincent, a friend who met Kresse through First Parish in Needham Unitarian Universalist and joined the Knights in 2017.

Vincent spearheaded the fundraising effort. Twenty-six donors contributed $2,891, more than covering the bench's $2,686 cost, Vincent told Needham Local.

The bench carries one of Kresse's favorite sayings: "If at second you don't succeed, try first again." Vincent called it one of many witticisms from Kresse's philosophical manifesto, "Fred's Laws," a collection of 29 postulates about life that friends describe as playful yet thought-provoking.

Kresse moved to Needham from Yellow Springs, Ohio, in 1962. He worked at the Boston Children's Museum developing Project MATCH Box, an educational initiative, and later helped pioneer First Parish's Community School, an open-curriculum program where anyone could volunteer to teach a course.

The bench is one of nearly 30 that the NCRTF has funded over its 26-year history. Paul Good, the trust fund's chair, said the program uses private donations to bring art into public spaces and celebrate community members. Ten percent of each donation goes into a long-term maintenance fund, and each completed bench is given to the Town of Needham as a gift.

A dedication ceremony for Kresse's bench is planned for September 2026, though a specific date has not been announced.