Local banker, former Red Wings president Fred Strauss dies

Nate Dougherty//July 17, 2015//

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Local business leader Fred Strauss died Friday morning, on his 88th birthday, family members said.

Mr. Strauss had a long history in local business, serving as vice president of Genesee Valley Union Trust and Marine Midland Bank and later as regional president of Manufacturers Hanover Trust Co. for 15 years.

He also served on local boards, including as chairman of Park Ridge Health Services Corp., Nazareth College and Rochester Community Baseball Inc., where he also served as president from 1984 to 1990.

He used his financial expertise and business experience to facilitate the needed renovation of Silver Stadium in 1987, a project that enabled the continuance of Red Wings baseball in Rochester until the opening of Frontier Field in 1997.

Mr. Strauss had a hand in numerous community service endeavors, including being a founding member of the Northwest Hospital Committee in 1961, the group that led the way for the opening of Park Ridge Hospital in 1975.

Mr. Strauss was particularly active in Greece, where he was a founder and former president of the Greece Rotary Club and a founding commissioner of the Ridge Road Fire District. He was named Businessman of the Year in Greece in 1987.

Mr. Strauss had deep ties to the Republican Party, serving on campaigns and leading fundraising efforts. He also ran for the state Assembly in 1965.

He also had an interesting part in national history, family members said. As a high school student at Aquinas Institute, he had a part-time job at the University of Rochester, working on the Manhattan Project—by picking up droppings from mice being tested.