Fred Marcus Reiter, age 92, of Chadds Ford, PA, died at home on July 1, 2014.
Fred was born on June 5, 1922 in Guls, Germany and immigrated to New York City with his parents, Adrian and Hannah Reiter, when he was 4 years old. He grew up in Indianapolis, where he delivered newspapers, played violin, and generally caused trouble. In 1938 he returned with his family to NYC where he worked for the Westinghouse exhibit at the World’s Fair, completed high school, and enrolled in the City College Chemical Engineering program. During this time Fred also worked as an assistant jewelry maker for his father, a watchmaker, a truckman’s assistant in the garment district and for a chemical engineer who worked with casting plastic.
Fred had a lifelong love of music, dancing, socializing and storytelling and during his late teens and early 20s he helped run a cellar club called Klub Koronet. He was attending a Klub meeting when news came of the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor.
Fred was taking a course in Radio Electronics when he was drafted. The military permitted him to finish the course and Fred officially joined the U.S. army on January 1, 1943. He trained at Fort Lewis, WA and in the Mojave Desert, where he served as Radio Officer for the 17th Field Observation Battalion. Subsequently he served as a Corporal at Fort Leonard Wood, Missouri with the 288th FOB, trained recruits in Camp Funsten and Camp Whiteside, Kansas, served as Drill Sergeant in the 293 Field Observation Battalion in Texas, and, at the end of the war, served in the Military Police Units at Fort Hood, Texas, Houlton and Presque Isle, Maine and Waltham Regional Hospital, Massachusetts. He was discharged in November 1945.
After leaving the army Fred studied at Mohawk Valley Community College Utica, NY, received a BS in Chemistry with minors in Bacteriology and Economics from Pomona College (1950) and a Masters in Biochemistry with minors in bacteriology and industrial management from UT Austin (1953).
After earning his degrees Fred worked as a new product development manager for Standard Packaging (1953-56) where his group pioneered the development of flexible packaging combinations and systems for vacuum packaging hot dogs, luncheon meats and cheese. His team also introduced the “heat-in-the-bag” materials for frozen vegetables. His work at S.P. got him a job offer from the DuPont Company where he worked from 1956 until 1984 in product and market development of flexible packaging films (cellophane, polyethylene, mylar) and customer technical service and trouble-shooting. Fred continued to do occasional consulting work after his retirement.
Fred met his wife, Henny (Saladon) Reiter, at Standard Packaging where she worked for him as a lab assistant. They were married in 1956 and in 1961 they moved to Chadds Ford, PA into a home which they had designed themselves.
Fred loved working with people and was very active in his community. He was an early supporter of the Chadds Ford Historical Society and the Brandywine Conservancy & Museum of Art. For many years he was the “Voice of Chadds Ford”, emceeing and organizing the music for the annual Chadds Ford Days festival. He also helped organize other Historical Society events and helped to maintain the Society property with the infamous wine and wiener (and by the way you’ll be mowing and weeding) cookouts. Fred wrote a local newsletter for Chadds Ford and did volunteer work at the Brandywine Battlefield State Park.
Fred was an active environmentalist decades before it became fashionable. He and Henny designed their home with passive solar features. Fred was an avid recycler and for a number of years helped run a roadside trash cleanup crew. His concern for conservation, the preservation of open space, and water quality led him to attend many of both the Township and the Delaware Valley Regional Planning Commission meetings where he was a vocal advocate for wise use and careful planning as well as fair and open government. He officially served on the Planning Commission in the early 1990s.
Fred is survived by his wife of 58 years, Henny Reiter, and his daughter, Deborah S. Reiter of Amherst MA. He was predeceased by his sisters, Ruth Neulicht and Lilian Ricca.
Those wishing to make a donation in his memory are encouraged to contribute to the Chadds Ford Historical Society and/or the Brandywine Conservancy and Museum of Art.
A memorial service will be held in Chadds Ford on September 21, 2014
Please go to http://people.umass.edu/reiter/fredreitermemgath.html for more information