When it came to most mathematical journals, the editors didn't necessarily have a strong academic background. Their job was mainly to check the format and word count of the paper, then contact peer reviewers and make a decision on the reviewers' comments.
However, not all journals were like this.
The Annual Mathematics journal, founded by Princeton, had editors-in-chief who were big-name mathematicians.
For example, former editor-in-chief Peter Sarnak was a great scholar in the field of number theory. He was also the 2014 winner of the Wolf Prize.
Professor Frakes was the editor-in-chief after Professor Peter Sarnak. Even though he had a weaker reputation, his strength was unquestionable. If he were still under 40 years old, he might be able to win a Fields Medal using his research results on differential manifolds.