Fred B. Riechmann was an American mechanical engineer, business executive, newspaper publisher, and United States Army major. He worked in banking, appliance manufacturing, construction materials, and newspaper management before leading the Evansville Courier. He and Pauline Ashby Riechmann were also prominent supporters of education, historic preservation, and civic institutions in southwestern Indiana.
Background
Fred B. Riechmann was born on October 30, 1915, in Evansville, Indiana, to George Edward Riechmann and Helen Umbach Riechmann. Evansville was a major commercial and manufacturing center in southwestern Indiana, and his later career remained closely connected with the city's business, industrial, religious, and civic institutions.
Riechmann married Pauline Ashby on November 11, 1939. The couple had two children, Fredrica Ann and Paul. Their later philanthropic activities supported educational and cultural institutions in the Evansville area, including the University of Southern Indiana.
Education
Riechmann studied at the University of Evansville in 1933 and continued in mechanical engineering at the University of Cincinnati, where he completed a master's degree in 1938. The University of Evansville, founded in 1854 as a Methodist-affiliated institution, developed as a liberal-arts university serving the educational life of southwestern Indiana. The University of Cincinnati, established in 1819, was one of the major urban research and professional institutions of the American Midwest, with a strong tradition in engineering and cooperative education.
His engineering education preceded a career that combined industrial management, wartime procurement, construction-materials business, and newspaper administration. The technical training provided a foundation for work in manufacturing and for his later leadership in Evansville's business community.
Career
Riechmann began his working life as a bookkeeper at National City Bank in Evansville from 1933 to 1935. He then joined Servel, Inc., an Evansville manufacturer known for household refrigeration and appliances, serving as a product executive from 1935 to 1959. His long association with Servel placed him within the era when American appliance manufacturing expanded through mass production, engineering development, and national distribution.
During the Second World War, Riechmann served as a major in the United States Army and worked as a contracting officer with the Cincinnati Ordnance District from 1941 to 1946. The Ordnance Department managed the procurement and supply of weapons, equipment, and military matériel, making contracting officers important links between government requirements and industrial production.
After his years at Servel, Riechmann was associated with Arkla and became vice president and treasurer of Miller Block Company in Evansville from 1960 to 1970. Miller Block operated in the construction-materials sector, which was tied to the postwar growth of housing, commercial building, and regional infrastructure.
Riechmann held executive positions at the Evansville Courier from 1970 to 1987, serving as president and director. The newspaper was part of a family-linked Evansville publishing enterprise whose ownership history extended to his uncle Benjamin Bosse, a former mayor of Evansville. Riechmann had served on the newspaper's board of directors for twelve years before becoming president, continuing a family connection with the publication's management.
Achievements
Riechmann and Pauline Ashby Riechmann established an endowed Deans Scholarship at the University of Southern Indiana through an estate gift, supporting the university's educational mission and student financial aid.
Riechmann participated in efforts to preserve the historic Vanderburgh County Courthouse, one of Evansville's significant civic and architectural landmarks.
Religion
Riechmann was a Lutheran and, with his wife, Pauline Ashby Riechmann, took an active interest in Lutheran church educational programs. He was also a director of the English Synod, a Lutheran ecclesiastical organization associated with church administration and congregational life.
His religious affiliation belonged to the wider Christian tradition of Lutheranism, which emerged from the sixteenth-century Reformation and emphasized biblical teaching, justification by faith, preaching, and congregational worship. In Riechmann's life, Lutheran participation was connected with family, education, and civic service in Evansville.
Politics
Riechmann was affiliated with the Republican Party. His political identity belonged to a major American party traditionally associated with constitutional government, private enterprise, individual responsibility, and a strong national defense.
His public career was primarily commercial, military, and civic rather than electoral. His service as a United States Army major during the Second World War placed him within the wartime public institutions that linked industrial management, engineering, and national defense.
Views
Riechmann's documented civic life reflected a philosophy of community stewardship. His support for educational scholarships, historic preservation, religious education, and regional cultural organizations treated local institutions as responsibilities shared by private citizens and business leaders.
Membership
Riechmann participated in professional, religious, educational, civic, and social organizations in Evansville and southwestern Indiana. His memberships included the English Synod, the Harlaxton Society, the University of Southern Indiana Foundation, Rolling Hills Country Club, and organizations connected with historic preservation and Lutheran community life.
These activities reflected the role of voluntary associations in regional civic life. Through the Harlaxton Society and the University of Southern Indiana Foundation, he supported educational and international cultural connections, while his involvement in preservation and local organizations contributed to the protection of Evansville's historic and institutional heritage.
Served as a director.
English Synod
,
United States
Served as president and supported educational and cultural connections involving Harlaxton College in Grantham, England.
Harlaxton Society
,
United States
Served on the foundation's board of directors and supported university initiatives.
University of Southern Indiana Foundation
,
United States
Was a founding member.
Rolling Hills Country Club
,
United States
Personality
Riechmann was described through his civic and philanthropic activities as an energetic supporter of education, historic preservation, religious institutions, and community organizations. His public record emphasizes sustained institutional involvement rather than personal publicity.
Quotes from others about the person
The University of Southern Indiana described Fred and Pauline Riechmann as working quietly but energetically for the betterment of their native Evansville.
Interests
Historic preservation, education, philanthropy, Lutheran church activities, and travel, especially to Harlaxton College in Grantham, England.
Connections
Riechmann married Pauline Ashby on November 11, 1939. Pauline was active in the Evansville Philharmonic Orchestra and Guild, Girl Scouts, the Harlaxton Society, the Reitz Home Preservation Society, the Courthouse Auxiliary, the Daughters of the American Revolution, and the Brentwood Garden Club. She died in 1994.
They had two children, Fredrica Ann Riechmann Wellborn and Paul F. Riechmann. The family supported the University of Southern Indiana, and an estate gift from Fred and Pauline Riechmann established an endowed Deans Scholarship during the university foundation's first capital campaign.
Father:
George Edward Riechmann
Was a director and officer associated with the Evansville newspaper enterprise.
Mother:
Helen Umbach Riechmann
Daughter:
Fredrica Ann Riechmann Wellborn
Lived in New York.
Son:
Paul F. Riechmann
Lived in Maine.
Wife:
Pauline Ashby
Died in 1994 and participated in philanthropic, religious, cultural, and historic-preservation activities in Evansville.
References
Faces of Philanthropy: Fred B. and Pauline Ashby Riechmann
Documents the Riechmanns' family background, business and military careers, leadership at The Evansville Courier Corporation, Lutheran and civic activities, historic-preservation work, support for the University of Southern Indiana, and endowed scholarship established through their estate.
