Introduction

Biography

Fred married twice: to Elizabeth Stell­er (1954) and An­thea Cooke (1994).

He moved to Eng­land in 1952, and served pas­tor­ates in Wales and Ply­mouth be­fore be­com­ing Sec­re­ta­ry of the In­ter­na­tion­al Con­gre­ga­tion­al Coun­cil in Ge­ne­va in 1968, and sub­se­quent­ly an ex­ec­u­tive with the World Al­li­ance of Re­formed Church­es.

In 1978, he re­turned to Eng­land and served for se­ven years as a Pro­vin­cial Mod­er­at­or in the URC, con­clud­ing his min­is­try in an ecu­me­ni­cal pas­tor­ate in Swin­don, Wilt­shire.

Kaan pub­lished five collect­ions of hymns and one of trans­la­tions from Swed­ish hym­no­dy. His texts have been trans­lated in­to over 15 lang­uag­es. He, Fred Pratt Green & Bri­an Wren, were cre­dit­ed with start­ing the hymn ex­plo­sion in Eng­land in the 1960’s and 70’s

In 2001, he was elect­ed a Fel­low of the Hymn So­cie­ty in the Unit­ed States and Ca­na­da.