KOCH, Frederick 1927-2011
KOCH, WHITTLE, BAKER, CAMPBELL
Posted By: S. Bell
Date: 10/17/2011 at 23:30:15
[Waterloo Courier, Sunday, July 24, 2011]
Frederick "Fred" Koch, former president of Metro Bancorporation, parent of Waterloo Savings Bank (now US Bank), and a longtime former resident of Waterloo, died July 11, 2011, in Edina, Minn. He was 84 years old. He was receiving care near his daughter's home, and faced without complaint many physical difficulties while living with ALS (Lou Gehrig's disease).
Fred and his wife Beverly had retired to the West Palm Beach, Fla., area in 1990. But they remained connected to Waterloo, and spent many happy summers at the family's vacation home at the Outing Club in Clear Lake.
A memorial service and lunch is planned for noon Saturday, Sept. 10, at the Waterloo Elks Lodge #290, 407 E. Park Ave., Waterloo 50703, with burial in Des Moines Masonic Cemetery. Fred was an active longtime member of the Lodge, along with involvement in many other civic and charitable service organizations.
Born Jan. 1, 1927, in Des Moines, Fred was the youngest of four sons of William and Nellie Whittle Koch. He was the first baby born that year in Polk County. He married Beverly Baker Koch in Des Moines in 1957.
Fred was a graduate of Roosevelt High School, Des Moines, and was president of his graduating class. After graduation, he enlisted in the U.S. Navy during World War II and was trained as an Electronic Technican's Mate Third Class. Following his military discharge, he attended the University of Iowa and graduated with a bachelor's degree in commerce in 1949. In 1952 he received a Juris Doctor degree in law, also from the University of Iowa. At Iowa he was a member of the Phi Kappa Psi fraternity and the Phi Delta Phi legal fraternity.
After graduation, he worked for Central National Bank & Trust Co., Des Moines, as a trust officer for five years. Then he moved to Waterloo to start the Trust Department of the Waterloo Savings Bank.
During his 35 years with WSB, he advanced from trust officer to the position of executive vice president of the bank and president of Metro Bancorporation; positions he held until his retirement in 1990.
Fred was active in many professional, civic and charitable organizations. He was a member of the Iowa State Bar Association, and was a past president of the Iowa Trust Association. He was a co-founder of the Black Hawk County Estate Planning Council and served as its president from 1972-73.
He was elected a member of the Waterloo Community Schools Board of Education for three years in the 1970s, and was an active member of the Neighborhood School Association.
He was a member, director and treasurer of Sunnyside Country Club in the 1970s when the club moved from East Donald Street to its present location. The Kochs built a family home along the 16th fairway of the golf course on what became the Country Club Acres Addition to Waterloo.
He was a founder and chairman of the Endowment Committee of the First Congregational Church, Waterloo, and was, with his family, for many years a member of the church.
He was a director of the Grout Museum for many years, during its transformation from one small building to its present complex of multiple facilities.
His influence extended charity to 30 organizations, ongoing today in the Waterloo community. When he moved to Waterloo, Fred became acquainted with a 100-year-old customer of the bank and persuaded her to create a foundation upon her death. When Minnie M. Crippen died some six years later, the foundation in her name came into existence. Fred served as president, and many charitable organizations benefitted from foundation funds then, and on an ongoing basis.
Another foundation he headed was that of W.E. and F.W. Ruebush. The foundation awards scholarships to graduating seniors from Waterloo Community Schools.
Fred always had a great interest in the outdoors and activities related to nature. He attributed the interest to having become an Eagle Scout as a youth (as had his three brothers). He was active in Ducks Unlimited from the date of the Black Hawk County Chapter's organization. A hunter and fisherman, he was one of the original seven incorporators of Powder Horn Farms in 1962, along with a group of friends from Waterloo.
He instilled a love of nature and adventure in his two children, encouraging his daughter to take up competitive sailing as an eight-year-old skipper. He enjoyed joining his son on outings in the Colorado Rockies.
He was a trustee of the Iowa Nature Conservancy, for which he was awarded the Stewardship Award for the year 1988. Among the organization's accomplishments in the Waterloo/Cedar Falls area was the acquisition of the "Mark Sand Prairie" in Cedar Falls. Additionally, he secured for the Conservancy a $1 million endowment fund for the summer employment of biology majors from Iowa universities to serve as interns in the maintenance and preservation of the properties under control of the Iowa Nature Conservancy, hopefully to instill in future generations a sensitivity towards the environment.
He was a member of the Elks Club, American Legion, Des Moines Home Lodge and Scottish Rite Consistory, International Polo Club and the Equestrian Club in Wellington, Fla.
Fred is survived by his daughter, Kathryn "Katy" Koch Campbell (Ralph) of Edina, Minn.; his son, Fritz (Debbie) of Ward, Colo.; and two grandsons, Jack Frederick Campbell and Baxter Quigley Koch.
He was preceded in death by Beverly, his wife of 53 years; grandson Francis Campbell; and his three brothers and their parents.
Fred will be remembered for his gracious presence at the side of his socially present wife, and as a true gentleman who gifted his friends and family with a sparkle in his beautiful blue eyes and ample doses of dry wit.
Black Hawk Obituaries maintained by Karen De Groote.
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