Stephen Miro Friedrich moved from city to city and job to job during an executive career in which he earned the nickname the "Fix It Man" of corporate America.
He'd enter a struggling business, analyze its books and take whatever steps necessary.
"He'd figure out whether the business should continue, merge or be sold," said a daughter, Jodie Richey of Alpharetta.
Nearly four years ago, Mr. Friedrich was diagnosed with prostate cancer, which he died from July 11 at Atlanta Hospice. He was 78. A private memorial will be held on Aug. 13. Roswell Funeral Home Green Lawn Cemetery is in charge of arrangements.
Mr. Friedrich was born in Paterson, N.J., the son of Czechoslovakian immigrants. He began his corporate career shortly after earning a degree in electrical engineering from Pennsylvania's Lehigh University followed by a two-year stint as an Air Force ROTC lieutenant.
In the mid-1950s, he was offered a job with RCA and moved the family to Manchester-by-the-Sea, Mass., where they resided 13 years. He enjoyed a mobile career in the 1970s and early 1980s in which companies hired him to shore up or lead operations. He was a top executive for Emerson Electric, ITT and Liberty Loan Corp. He retired in 1982.
The family moved often -- "15 times in my lifetime," his daughter said. "We were in Massachusetts, then went to St. Louis for six months. Then we moved to Cincinnati and Shaker Heights, Ohio. All corporate moves. He really climbed the ladder."
Mr. Friedrich moved 23 times during his career. He was referred to as the "Fix It Man" in an article that appeared in the Wall Street Journal. Barbara Kissock Friedrich, his wife of 56 years, self-published a book about their lifestyle: "Did Somebody Pack the Baby?"
Wherever the family lived, they stayed in a nice home. There was no hired help or servants, though. That's what the couple's five daughters were for.
They mowed the grass, cleaned the house and handled repairs. Every Christmas, he bought each a new tool, among other gifts.
"He was a tough nut," his daughter said, "but family was important to him. My Dad reminds me of the Great Santini."
In retirement, Mr. Friedrich opened businesses that included a pizza delivery store in Raleigh and two now-defunct Atlanta businesses -- a recruiting agency called The Registry, and the Credit Bureau of Dallas, which he operated 15 years.
Survivors besides his wife and daughter include four other daughters, Barbara Fisher and Jennifer Stallter, both of Alpharetta; Stephanie Fisher of Jacksonville and Susan Kleeman of Granby, Colo.; and nine grandchildren.
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