Dr. Ted Fritsche, local legend, dies

By KREMENA TODOROVA

Journal Staff Writer

NEW ULM -- Dr. Ted Fritsche, an ophthalmologist, New Ulm mayor and beloved local legend, died Friday, Dec. 5, at his home. He was 97.

He was surrounded by his wife Lois and their four children, Dr. Ted L. Fritsche from Marshall, Jane Watson from North Oaks, Katherine Fritsche from Ruffin, N.C., and Dr. Tom Fritsche from Cedar Rapids, Iowa.

Services are 11 a.m. Monday at the United Church of Christ, with burial in the New Ulm City Cemetery.

Visitation is 3-6 p.m. Sunday and 7-8:30 a.m. Monday at Schmucker Funeral Service and one hour prior to services at the church.

A descendant of pioneers with an extraordinary record of public service, Dr. Ted Fritsche was the last member of a local medical dynasty that spanned 97 years.

Following in his father's footsteps, he served two terms as mayor of New Ulm, promoting the city's relationship with sister cities in Germany. With wife Lois, he was instrumental in establishing and international student exchange program.

Theodore Roosevelt Fritsche was born in New Ulm in 1906, the youngest of six children.

It was his father's idea to name him after the U.S. president. Dr. Louis A. Fritsche, a Democrat, admired Republican Roosevelt's "progressive" policies of natural resource conservation and limiting the power of industrial monopolies.

Descendant of pioneers and public servants

Dr. Ted Fritsche's ancestors had immigrated to America with a wave of German settlers fleeing a widespread revolution in Europe in 1848 and beginning to move to Minnesota in the 1850s.

His grandparents on both sides were among New Ulm's founders.

Dr. Ted's grandfather on his mother's side, Wilhelm Pfaender, led a large group of German Turners to the new town of New Ulm in 1856. The Turners were a socialistic and anticlerical society that valued physical fitness. The Turner heritage remains central to New Ulm.

Dr. Ted's grandfather on his father's side, Frederick Fritsche, joined the German Land Society of Chicago, settling in this area in 1855. Frederick Fritsche led the Lafayette Company during the 1862 Dakota Conflict. During a Dakota attack, Frederick's son, the future Dr. Louis, then three months old, hid with his mother in Eibner's basement in New Ulm.

Dr. Ted's father, Dr. Louis A. Fritsche -- the founder of a medical dynasty that would practice medicine in the city for 97 years -- was the first licensed physician in Minnesota.

Except for a postgraduate course at the University of Berlin, Dr. Louis practiced medicine and surgery in New Ulm from 1887 until his death in 1931.

Dr. Louis A. Fritsche served as city coroner and as a school board member, before being elected mayor in 1912.

In 1917, during an infamous period of Minnesota history, Dr. Louis Fritsche was removed from office by the Minnesota Commission of Public Safety, for what was then perceived as "pro-German propaganda." In 1920, Dr. Louis was re-elected to the mayor's office by a 2-1 margin.

Last member of a

medical dynasty

One of four brothers who studied medicine and returned to join their father at what was known as the Fritsche Clinic, Dr. Ted received his medical degree at the University of Minnesota in 1931. He interned at Letterman Army Hospital in San Francisco, then did a residency at the Illinois Charitable Eye and Ear Infirmary in Chicago, followed by additional training at Ancker Hospital, St. Paul.

He started practice in New Ulm in 1933. Until 1960 he was an eye, ear, nose and throat specialist, but then focused on the eye. He practiced at the family clinic and at both Loretto and Union Hospitals. (During World War II, from which he was rejected because of a lung ailment, he served as medical officer for southern Minnesota.)

"Sure, I've missed out on some things, living in a smaller town, but nothing to compensate for the comfort and happiness I have here," he said in 1980. "I had chances to go to larger cities, but this is a good community, with good hospitals and congenial people."

"New Ulm has so much to offer. It has a diversity of interests in science, education, and other fields for the individual."

Always active in professional organizations, he served a term as vice-president of the Minnesota State Medical Association and was chairman of the committee on ophthalmology. He was President of the Minnesota Academy of Ophthalmology and Otolaryngology. He was a fellow of the American College of Surgeons.

A pioneer in ophthalmology, Dr. Ted was one of originators of the original Preschool Survey of Vision and Hearing.

The University of Minnesota presented him the Harold Diehl award in 1968 as the outstanding medical school graduate.

Upon receiving the Minnesota Medical Association's certificate for being in practice 50 years, he said, "It isn't actually an award. The outstanding achievement is that you lived so long."

In 1999, he received the University of Minnesota Vision Foundation Alumni Service Award.

Neither sleet nor snow kept him from his appointed rounds, New Ulm residents recall in newspaper clippings kept in Brown County Historical Society's archives. During as blizzard when the streets were blocked, he put on snowshoes at his home, at 715 Summit, and got to Loretto Hospital to do a cataract operation.

Dr. Fritsche retired in 1984, after 51 years of practice.

"I probably would have retired sooner," he said in 1984, "but I always said I'd continue until another ophthalmologist located in New Ulm so there would be someone local to carry on the speciality."

Mayor of New Ulm,

diplomat

Dr. Ted Fritsche served two terms as New Ulm mayor in 1952-1958.

As mayor, he presided over the city's switch to a business-based form of management. He was in his first term as mayor when the first city manager was selected. He served as president of the Minnesota Mayors Association.

Dr. Ted Fritsche was a charter member of the New Ulm Jaycees, life member of the Chamber of Commerce and a more than 60-year member of the Lions Club and the New Ulm Turnverein. He was an honorary council member of the Minnesota Historical Society and member of the Brown County Historical Society. Among many other groups, he belonged to the Junior Pioneers, Friends of Flandrau, Hermann Monument Centennial Commission and Sister Cities Commission.

In 1990, he received the Sertoma Club's Service to Mankind Award.

Dr. Ted and his wife Lois helped originate the sister city relationship between New Ulm and Ulm and Neu Ulm, Germany in the early 1950. With Hans Joohs of Ulm, Dr. Ted helped start the original Student Exchange Program between the sister cities' Rotary Clubs.

The Fritsches sponsored five West German immigrants and hosted students from Germany, Kenya and Mexico. They represented New Ulm at the 1,100th anniversary celebration of Ulm, Germany.

In 1992, Dr. Ted Fritsche was awarded the German Federal Republic Cross of Merit for his efforts and investments in promoting the continuing relationship with New Ulm's sister cities, Ulm and Neu Ulm.