Senator Frederick Louis Maytag View All Years

FRED MAYTAG

MR. PRESIDENT: Your committee, appointed to prepare a suitable resolution commemorating the life, character and public service of the Honorable Fred Maytag, begs leave to submit the following memorial.

Fred Maytag, nationally known chairman of the board of The Maytag Company, electrical appliance manufacturer, represented Jasper County as Senator in the Fifty-second and Fifty-third sessions of The General Assembly of Iowa.

Politics had a strong appeal to him. He had a wide and varied acquaintance, a reputation for ability and judgment in many fields, and a love for people that inspired confidence in him.

He surprised many persons when he decided against seeking election to a full-time political office at the end of his term in the Legislature.

Maytag Company production was devoted to war material during World War II while research on home automatic washers and dryers was pursued without interruption. The post-war spurt in popularity of automatics was so rapid that Fred Maytag abandoned thought of staying in politics in 1948 to break ground for the new plant northeast of Newton to make automatic in addition to wringer washers.

His decision continued the Maytag Company as the leading independent manufacturer of washing machines.

Fred Maytag was born in Newton, January 8, 1911. He spent his entire life in Newton and at The Maytag Company. He was the grandson of F. L. Maytag, founder of the company; the son of Elmer H. Maytag, former president; and the nephew of Louis B. Maytag, also a former president.

He was graduated from Newton High School, Culver Military Academy, and the University of Wisconsin. He began his Maytag Company career as a high school student working summer vacations in the company machine shops.

In 1933, after his graduation from the University of Wisconsin, he became a full-time employee as a sales representative. He was vice president from 1936 until his father’s death in 1940, when he was 29 years old. He became board chairman in 1960, taking a post that had remained unfilled since the death of F. L. Maytag in 1937.

He was modest. He entered his name on the Senate roll as Fred Maytag; rarely used his full name, Frederick Louis Maytag II. He believed every man should do his own thinking. He opposed on the floor of the Senate the World War II soldier bonus bill, that had his Republican party’s backing, with advice to veterans they’d be paying taxes to retire the bonds.

He was a delegate-at-large to the 1960 Republican national convention, and was chairman of the 1952 and 1960 Iowa Republican state presidential national delegate selection conventions.

Fred Maytag also was president of the Maytag Co., Ltd., of Winnipeg, Canada, and of the Maytag Dairy Farms, Inc., of Newton. He was chairman of the board of the Jasper County Savings Bank of Newton, and the Kellogg Savings Bank of Kellogg.

He was a trustee of the Equitable Life Insurance Company of Iowa; a director of the Minneapolis-Honeywell Regulator Company of Minneapolis, Minnesota; a director of the Iowa Power and Light Company of Des Moines; a director of the Northwestern Bell Telephone Company of Des Moines; a director and regional vice president of the National Association of Manufacturers; a trustee of Grinnell College; and a trustee of Ducks Unlimited, Inc.

He was chairman of the executive committee of the Herbert Hoover Birthplace Foundation. He was active in Boy Scout, Salvation Army and Izaak Walton League work.

He received the Navy Distinguished Public Service award in 1956. He was named outstanding young man of the year by the Iowa Junior Chamber of Commerce in 1948. He held a private pilot’s license and was a member of the Civilian Advisory Board of the Air Training Command.

He became ill on an advisory board inspection trip to Lowry Air Force Base in June, 1959. An emergency operation for removal of a small intestinal tumor at the base hospital was the forerunner of numerous operations in St. Louis, Missouri. He died of cancer at his home in Newton, November 4, 1962.

He was married to Ellen Elizabeth Pray of Narberth, Pennsylvania, a classmate at the University of Wisconsin, November 30, 1934. Their four children are Mrs. David Egger, Frederick Louis III, Mrs. Jon Dannerbeck, and Kenneth Pray.

Fred Maytag took seriously his obligations to his state, his community, his business and his church, St. Stephen’s Episcopal in Newton. The Senate is proud to acknowledge the high character of his service and the influence of his life.

Now, Therefore, Be It Resolved by the Senate of the Sixtieth General Assembly of Iowa: That in the passing of the Honorable Fred Maytag the State of Iowa has lost a valued and honored citizen, and by this resolution attests its respect for and admiration of him and tenders its sincere sympathy to his family.

Be It Further Resolved: That a copy of this resolution be spread upon the Journal of the Senate and the secretary be directed to send an enrolled copy to Mrs. Maytag and the two sons and two daughters.

D. C. NOLAN,

EUGENE M. HILL,

J. T. DYKHOUSE,

Committee.

The resolution was unanimously adopted.