Fred Bay has been an MBL Trustee since 1977 and he currently serves as Co-Vice Chair of the Board. The Josephine Bay Paul Center in Molecular Biology and Evolution is named in honor of his mother, Josephine Bay Paul.

The Bay Foundation and the Paul Foundation are private foundations established by Charles Ulrick Bay, an industrialist and former US ambassador to Norway, and his widow Josephine. Charles Bay's enterprises included surgical bandages, petroleum, shipping and finance. He died in 1955. His widow was the first woman to head a member firm of the New York Stock Exchange (A.M. Kidder & Co.), and was also chair and chief executive officer of American Export Lines, a major shipping company. Josephine Bay Paul died in 1962 and endowed the foundation that bears her and her second husband's names. The foundations have devoted most of their grants to educational and cultural institutions, museums, zoos and schools. Their grants for species preservation research seemed to evolve naturally into a commitment to preserve biodiversity.

The Bay Foundation first became interested in the MBL in the 1970's as a result of Dr. Ed Kravitz's friendship with executive director Robert Ashton, former MBL trustee and lawyer with the New York City firm, Beekman and Bogue. Since then, the foundation has awarded over $1.2 million to the MBL.

Fred Bay is Chairman of The Bay Foundation, Inc. and is President and Executive Director of the Josephine Bay Paul and C. Michael Paul Foundation, Inc. These two family foundations have combined assets of $47 million.