Edmund Fitzgerald

Edmund Bacon Fitzgerald

• School University of Michigan
• High School Deerfield Academy
• Born February 5, 1926 in Milwaukee, WI USA
• Died August 28, 2013 in Nashville, TN USA

Biographical Information

Edmund Fitzgerald was a businessman who was a key figure in bringing baseball back to Milwaukee in the form of the Milwaukee Brewers.

Alongside Bud Selig, he co-founded the Milwaukee Brewers in 1970, serving at various times as Vice President and General Partner on the club until 1982. During the 1970s, he was on the Executive Council of Major League Baseball and chairman of its Player Relations Committee.

Other endeavors

Fitzgerald served as chief executive officer of Cutler-Hammer, Inc. for 15 years. During the 1980s, he was chairman and CEO of Nortel. He was also director of the Business Council on National Issues in Canada for four years.

He also served on the board of trustees for Northwestern Mutual Life Insurance Company, First Wisconsin National Bank and Beloit College.

Fitzgerald served as Industry Advisory Council to the U.S. Department of Defense and was President of the National Electrical Manufacturers Association. He served on President Ronald Reagan's National Security Telecommunications Advisory Committee and was a life trustee and chairman on the Committee for Economic Development. Due to his efforts to improve trade relations between the United States and Japan, Fitzgerald was awarded the Order of the Rising Sun, 2nd Class. He also served as a member of the U.S.-Korea Wisemen Council.

Family

Fitzgerald's father, also named Edmund Fitzgerald, was a civic leader who served as chairman of the Northwestern Mutual Life Insurance Company. The ship the SS Edmund Fitzgerald, popularized in the song The Wreck of the Edmund Fitzgerald by Gordon Lightfoot, is named after him. His grandfather, William E. Fitzgerald, was a famous shipbuilder and another grandfather, Frank R. Bacon, co-founded Cutler-Hammer.

Further reading

• Legacy.com obituary
• JSOnline article