Frederick Padden Hartz

Frederick "Fritz" Padden Hartz, age 85 of Dayton, passed away Wednesday, February 5, 2020 at his home of 10 Wilmington Place. He was born November 15, 1934 in Madison, Wisconsin, the second of five children to the late Joseph and Eleanor Hartz.
Fritz grew up outside Chicago, as well as Manawa and Stevens Point, WI and was as devout a Green Bay Packers fan as he was a Catholic. A 1952 graduate of Little Wolf High School, Fritz excelled at sports, earning letters in track, basketball, baseball and as football quarterback. He excelled in academics, played the trombone, was crowned Homecoming King and not surprisingly, was voted having, "Largest Vocabulary" by his class.
Fritz went on to earn his Bachelor of Science in Mechanical Engineering from Marquette University, where he was a member of Sigma Phi Delta, an international engineering fraternity. Not long after graduation, he moved to New Jersey to begin what would be a 35-year career with DuPont, from which he retired in 1993 as a production superintendent.
It was at the New Jersey shore that he met and fell in love with his late wife, Marguerite "Margie" Hall, to whom he remained faithfully married for 49 years. Although his job took him to the midwest shortly after their marriage, as the years moved on, he and Margie would load their four kids into the station wagon and return to "the shore" for memorable family vacations -- often including the life-long friends who were there when they first met in the late 1950s.
He was wickedly smart, funny, sarcastic, unafraid to share his "expert" opinion on anything, and made friends easily. Though he was the namesake of his German grandfather, he was especially proud of his 75% Irish heritage and true to that, loved telling stories (in plenty of detail), enjoyed listening to Irish music, and wore a tam atop his head when he went out.
Throughout his life, Fritz enjoyed golf, tennis, boating, bridge, music, playing board games with his family, coaching his kids' sports teams, as well as reading novels and poetry. He is well-known among family and friends for his dramatic oration of the Robert Service poem, "The Cremation of Sam McGee."
He also loved a dry Beefeater's gin martini, served up with a twist.
In addition to his parents, Fritz was preceded in death by his wife Marguerite (Hall) Hartz and siblings Joseph Hartz, Michael Hartz, Mary Browne and James Hartz.

Fritz is survived by his children, Frederick "Erick" J. Hartz, Gretchen H. (Scot) Siegwarth, Heidi H. (Mark) Watson and Kristen H. (Ken) Brown; grandchildren, Karyna, Max, Jack, Frederick Emmett, Olive, Kenny and Quinn and sister-in-law, Luetta Hartz, as well as extended family and friends — all of whom he loved deeply.

Family will host a memorial ceremony for Fritz on February 22, 2020 at 2:00pm at 10 Wilmington Place. Fritz's final resting place will be beside his wife at St. Thomas Catholic Church columbarium in Lenoir City, TN.
Fritz's family would like to thank the entire staff at 10 Wilmington Place for their care and love for Fritz over the past nine years.

Memorial contributions may be made to St. Jude's Children Research Hospital.