As CEO of Dain Bosworth and Tonka Equipment, Fred was regarded as a thoughtful and supportive leader that paid attention to his people as well as results. His combination of strong analytical and personal skills led to a successful business career, but his focus was never on monetary success. He had no personal ledger or specific financial goal in mind for himself but was dedicated to doing a good job, treating people well and doing the right thing regardless of the consequences. Though highly regarded as a Minneapolis business leader, his greatest accomplishments and personal satisfaction came from giving back to the community. He was a dedicated community leader giving his time, talent, and treasure to support education, children’s health, faith and service.
For Fred, financial support of his favorite organizations was important, but the value he provided to them was far greater than that. Spanning over 50 years, Fred not only contributed financially, but committed his time and talents. He was a problem solver, a consensus builder, and a strategic thinker; he brought those skills to the table.
Below, you can read more about some of Fred’s favorite organizations, including, the YMCA, the University of Minnesota & U of M Children’s Hospital, Rotary, and Good Samaritan United Methodist Church. Fred was known as the person you could trust to take on the toughest challenges, bringing his big heart and mind to the table for the benefit of others.
We welcome you to read the information below and return to the Welcome page for information on how to make a donation to any of these organizations in memory of Fred.
YMCA
There was no show, no self-indulgence, no ego…just Fred…a bold, restless, determined and courageous servant of the Y’s mission
David Wichmann, CEO United Health Group
Whether providing sound advice and counsel to Y leaders, or mentoring and tutoring children from underserved communities, Fred was always mission-driven, people-centered and purposeful. Fred was a treasure to the Y. He grew up in the Y and became a trusted leader, mentor and friend to many. His humility and sheer brilliance were a rare combination. He often shared with me. ‘I’m just a Y guy.’
Glen Gunderson president and chief executive officer of the YMCA of the Greater Twin Cities (YGTC)
Fred was a lifelong YMCA supporter. As a young child, he learned to swim, box and play basketball at the Minneapolis Y. He credits the YMCA for instilling in him his sense of values, openness to others, commitment to service above self and the source of inspiration for his continual advocacy for the development of children to ensure all children were equipped with the life skills needed to be successful and happy. Fred was a camper and counselor at Camp Warren and a longtime YMCA volunteer spanning over 70 years.
“It’s been a privilege to work with YMCA leadership to advance the mission. Kids are the future—we need to keep investing in them.“
Fred Friswold
Fred served on the YMCA General Board from 1991-2014 and came to treasure the deep friendships he developed with YMCA CEOs Jim Gilbert, Harold Mezile and Glen Gunderson. Fred led the highly successful $55M Commitment to Community Capital Campaign. His passion for the Y was not limited to the Twin Cities as he made several trips to YMCA South Africa and Liberia to help build the outreach and success of other YMCA organizations. In 2015, Fred was honored as the first-ever recipient of our YMCA’s Lifetime Service Award.
“Fred had a profound impact on our community by generously donating his time, talents and treasures to countless organizations and causes. The Y was a major beneficiary of this generosity and all of us received so much from this wise, humble and gifted man. We will miss him dearly.”
Bruce Mooty, Principal GPM Lathrop
University of Minnesota
Fred had a lifelong passion for the importance of education, and the University of Minnesota has been in his blood. Fred met his wife, Marie, as Sorority and Fraternity members at the U. Marie had her first child just before taking her finals her senior year and has been Fred’s partner in giving back. Over the years, Fred teamed with some of his Fraternity brothers such as Larry Laukka in driving projects like the Gateway Alumni Center and the Scholar’s Walk. Fred and Marie continue to have lifelong friends they met at the U, and they are huge Gopher fans. Fred and Marie’s love of the University of Minnesota led to decades of tireless volunteer hours, lively meetings, difficult conversations and inspiration for many current and former staff and volunteers.
“Fred had a way of getting your best (and best work) out of you. He was exceptionally good at reading people…he took the time and effort to truly understand what made you tick as a person. I think this was a big part of his secret weapon to get people who normally were not inclined to work together to actually get onboard and pull in the same direction. Everyone who had the privilege of frequent interaction with Fred knew he always did his homework, so you had better too. Everything Fred did, he did all in. He expected a lot from me, but he always gave me back more in return. In doing so, he showed me the joy that comes from empowering and helping others reach their potential. I am certain I would not be where I am today without his mentoring and friendship. I am forever grateful to Fred.”
Doug Gorence, President and Chief Investment officer of UMF Investment Advisors
The U of M Children’s Hospital
In 1967, just 30 years old, Fred and Marie lost their youngest daughter Michelle to Leukemia. In 2009, they made a donation to the University of Minnesota Children’s Hospital in her honor and adopted a room in a revolutionary new building. All rooms are designed to provide more space for parents, siblings and extended family to give ill children more control of their environment and provide a loving and caring environment. Each room is private and has larger-than-standard mini-fridges, microwaves, eating space and specialized medical equipment to support the healing process.
“The healing comes so much better if the environment surrounds you with happiness and comfort and family. It makes a difference, whatever age you may be.“
Marie Friswold
Fred and Marie have subsequently established an endowment fund in Michelle’s honor to advance innovative medical research in the Department of Pediatrics and continue the legacy to support and enable families to spend more time together during challenging times.
University of Minnesota: U of M Foundation, Gateway Corporation & Alumni Center
Fred’s involvement at the University of Minnesota spans a wide array of organizations, including the University of Minnesota Children’s Hospital, the Gateway Corporation, McNamara Alumni Center, Greek Alumni Council, Discovery Nexus. Here are just a few highlights. As the Founding Chair of the University of Minnesota Foundation’s Investment Advisors (UMFIA), Fred helped ensure the continued, steady, healthy growth in the University’s endowment and built a base for a reliable, long-term funding that has become critical to the success of the U of M. He created a clarity of purpose, appropriate flexibility and governance that has led the U of M’s mission and his legacy will continue in the people he has mentored over several decades.
As the original Board Chair of the University Gateway Corporation, he and fellow alums Larry Laukka and Dale Olseth, raised over $50M to build the McNamara Alumni Center and other campus enhancements such as the Scholars Walk, Gateway Plaza and Alumni Wall of Honor. His patience and leadership for more than 12 years allowed this wonderful “front door” to the University to become a reality.
Discovery Nexus Center
As Chair and President of the University Gateway Corporation, Fred led the effort to establish the Center for Innovation by connecting corporate and individual donors interested in advancing the creation, development and commercialization of discoveries emanating from the university.
The “Discovery Nexus” features collaboration stations, meeting and presentation spaces, as well as state-of-the-art electronics. It is designed to be an intersection among entrepreneurs, economic development leaders, alumni, and student and faculty researchers. The University of Minnesota discoveries have already been the basis of hundreds of start-ups over the past decade and the Discovery Nexus is designed to enhance that success.
The Greek System & Trusted Advisor
The Greek system is where Fred and Marie met, and that may have played into Fred’s continued appreciation for the value of the Greek System. Fred teamed up with Jerry Rinehart to create the Greek Community Strategic Task Force to study the history and issues and come up with recommendations to revitalize participation. Later Fred served as Board Chair. As part of their recommendations, they set a 5-year goal – and accomplished it in three years – with Greek membership rising 60+%.
Rotary Club of Minneapolis
Service Above Self and One Profits Most Who Serves Best
The Rotary Club of Minneapolis is a diverse collection of civic-minded business and professional leaders who join together in fellowship, professional enrichment and the opportunity to serve. Members contribute their time, expertise, and money to improve the community and foster international understanding and goodwill. The Minneapolis Rotary Foundation is a 501c3 nonprofit organization that funds educational scholarships as well as local and global service projects. Fred’s personal vision, mission and values were deeply aligned with service above self, investing in education and action-oriented community service which is why the Rotary was such a good fit for Fred.
Twenty years ago, Fred prepared an amazing Rotary address he titled “Ain’t We Lucky” that encapsulated the importance of service above self. In his final week, Fred revised this address and had the opportunity to share it with an esteemed group of Rotary Past presidents who gathered together to honor Fred.
Below you will find an excerpt from Fred’s “Ain’t We Lucky 2020” address that was delivered to his cherished Rotarian colleagues that day:
My immigrant grandparents knew the importance of education. Education—the process of learning, is critically important to a successful life, however you define it. It keeps us away from complacency about our lives and the successes we’ve had.The challenges of bad luck are unavoidable, but in my view everyone in this room is extremely lucky!
We’ve been blessed with many gifts!
- The persistence of the human spirit.
- Man’s ability to rise above the chaos around him.
- Our capacity to learn from the past
- Our ability to compound the impact of knowledge and invention by sharing it with others.
- The spark of spirituality that extracts the goodness in our hearts
- The moral outrage that motivates us to wipe out inequality and injustice
- Our innate sense of fairness that calls us to action to help others less fortunate.
Every one of us is the beneficiary of the efforts of those who have gone before!
We all drink from wells that were dug by others.
We are beneficiaries of the sacrifices our forbearers have made.
- The immigrants
- The pioneers
- The teachers
- The scientists
- The soldiers who gave their lives
Now we are digging the wells that future generations will drink from!
We have an additional opportunity to show that we live in a community that cares—about all people of all skin colors!
- We have a corporate culture in the Twin Cities that supports the community and cares about its workforce.
- We are fortunate to be members of Rotary—with 1,200,000 like-minded members in 200 countries around the world that join together to make it a better world for those that aren’t as lucky as we are.
- We are fortunate to have the Rotary International Foundation to help us carry out our Rotary service mission around the world
- We also have our Minneapolis Rotary Foundation that stewards and manages our gifts so we can carry out our local service mission in perpetuity.
This gives us the opportunity to show that Minnesotans, and Minneapolitans in particular, care about all of our people, regardless of color or circumstances.
To change lives for the better!
“Each of us goes forward toward our ultimate destiny. We should do so with joy in our hearts. We have had the greatest gift of all—the opportunity to serve our fellow man.“
FRF June 20, 2020
Good Samaritan United Methodist Church
Good Samaritan (Good Sam) is a progressive, reconciling church that celebrates diversity, welcomes all, worships passionately, challenges injustice, builds local and global partnerships in mission, and seeks to be a place of positive change to transform the world through God’s love.
Fred and Marie found a spiritual home for themselves at Good Sam. The Friswold family grew up with a healthy dose of both Catholic as well as Methodist church traditions. On one distinctive occasion, Pastor Gordon Mineheart, a treasured pastor friend and mentor, noted that he could always tell when Fred brought his family to Good Sam Church because Fred’s children were the only ones who genuflected before they took their seat in the church pew ~ a true blending of different church rituals and traditions. Fred used to chide Marie that the “Methodists” really know how to sing and that proved quite true for those who’ve ever witnessed the Good Sam Singers and musicians who brought great joy to every church service.
It was also very important that their place of worship be a reconciling church community that would honor and welcome all people. Fred always remembered growing up in a next generation immigrant family and valued the diversity and contributions immigrants continue to make in our communities. As the world grew smaller and interconnected, so too did the Friswold family evolve with a good healthy dose of diversity itself. The Friswold family now includes Jewish, Muslim, and gay family members, so a loving place that provides a place to grow and have all spirits nourished is critically important. Good Sam fit the bill and it is an exciting time where it is actively seeking to reimagine church and to ensure that “Good Sam” remains real, relevant and responsive for the years to come.
“I had a variety of roles over the years, including Chair of the Finance Committee and Board, and I Co-chaired two capital campaigns. I was involved in starting a Good Sam Foundation to receive endowment gifts and support facilities and long-term missional goals.”
“I’m not a conventional Christian believer, but I think Christ was “right–on” and my values reflect his teachings. The highly inclusive values at Good Sam fit me really well. I liked our past pastor’s opening line – ‘We welcome people regardless of where they are on their faith journey’. I never was into ‘one-size fits all.” Sunday mornings at Good Sam have been rewarding to me. It’s great to have some regular time for reflection. Every human being has three fundamental questions. Where did I come from? Where am I now in my life journey? Where am I going in eternity? There is no certainty to the answers but reflecting on them helps us in making choices and living our lives with values and activities in synch. Great music, meaningful sermons, and good fellowship with friends make for a rewarding experience on Sunday mornings.”
Fred and Marie’s daughter, Michelle, and Fred’s mother, Derrice, were two of the people held in memoriam when the Good Samaritan stained glass windows were installed. The windows are a beautiful reminder of our loved ones and God’s eternal embrace. The memory of Fred is now part of it.
