Karl W. Fruecht

Karl W Fruecht was born on September 11, 1927 near West Mifflin, PA.

Karl was an Executive VP of Household International, and led the project with a host of great colleagues to make Household the first global financial institution to manage their daily profit and loss statement and information systems real-time.  After he retired, he held executive positions at a handful of financial institutions.

He was married in 1950 to Lois Dittman, with whom he had four children; Sharon Curran, Penny Nadar, Gregg Fruecht, and Karl D. Fruecht. The marriage ended in 1980.  In 1985, he was married to Elaine West, who survives him.  The combined family has nine children and 17 grandchildren.

Karl served in WWII in the United States Navy, where he was a decorated soldier. He used the benefits from the G.I. bill to graduate the University of Pittsburgh with a degree in Finance. Throughout his career, he was a frequent lecturer on financial stability at Columbia University and later at The Wharton School of Finance at University of Pennsylvania.

Karl was involved in his church, ultimately starting the Parish Finance Committee, the Booster Club, and the School Board at St. Anne Church in Barrington, IL.  Following significant achievements at St. Anne, John Cardinal Cody asked him to play a role at the Archdiocese of Chicago, where he served for eight years as Chairman of the Chicago Archdiocese School Board, and as the Chairman of the Archdiocese Finance Committee. Under his leadership, the committee, faced with tightening budgets and deficit spending, avoided the closing of 22 inner city Catholic schools by having wealthier suburban schools adopt them, saving the hot meal programs for thousands of children from low income areas.  Those schools are still educating students to this day.

He was an avid golfer, which paved the way for his signature apparel, and was the first President of Turnberry Country Club. His second favorite hobby was ice cream, floating between spumoni and vanilla with orange sherbet as his favorites.

Karl passed away peacefully in his sleep on March 17, 2019.

Memorial visitation will be held on Friday, April 12, 2019 from 9am until time of funeral Mass at 11am, at St. Anne Church, 120 Ela St., Barrington.  Interment will be private.

In lieu of flowers, memorial contributions may be given to Divine Hospice and Palliative Care, 234 Garden St., Yorkville, IL 60560.