Deceased November 21, 1998

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In Memory

He was the last in the class, alphabetically. But he was right up there as a man. Now Fred Zink has left us.

Fred died just before Thanksgiving. A bad time. A meaningful time for the Zinks because each year, right after Thanksgiving, Fred and Dotty would take off from their Radnor home in Pennsylvania for their winter home in Fort Myers, there to bask in the Florida sunshine. Not this past year.

Looking back, it was a long trip for a boy born in Brooklyn going on to his early education in the schools of Rockville Center on Long Island. He was still only sixteen, with a baby face to prove it, when he entered Amherst.

Fred took the liberal arts course—all the College offered. It hardly prepared him for his life work—in the construction business. But he learned by doing and gained a knowledge of construction and architecture by attending night school in New York.

Came a slight interruption—the war. A dedicated pacifist, Fred offered to devote one year to the National Guard. His one year turned into six, half of it spent in the balmy South Pacific, commanding a battery of the field artillery. Finally leaving the mud and sand and native dancers, Major Zink was more than ready to return to civilian life and the building business.

In 1956, Fred and his younger brother, Dolph '43, launched their own construction (residential and commercial) and real estate operation on Philadelphia's Main Line, centering mostly in the burgeoning hamlet of King of Prussia. Their company, Home Trends, Inc., was very successful, but hectic. So, in 1966 Fred limited himself to running a small shopping center in the area.

Along the way, Fred found his life mate, Dotty Mueller, and led a happy married life. There were three children, a boy and two girls.  Our condolences go to all of them.

Fred was an always-pleasant person, a joy to know and a good companion. Now we'll have to get along with our memories. But we'll still miss him.

John D. Leinbach '35