Fred J. Runde Jr.

Family-Placed Death Notice

FRED J. RUNDE, JR. 88, of Marietta died Friday, February 13, 2004. Services will be 2 p.m. Tuesday at Mayes Ward-Dobbins Funeral Home Chapel, Marietta, GA with Rev's. Karen Evans and John Roddy officiating. Interment will be in St. James Cemetery, Marietta, GA. Audiences throughout the Atlanta area will miss hearing Fred Rundes patter as he closed out another installment of his WREK radio program: "The Show Everyone Listens To." On Friday, February 13, the voice of the 25-odd year veteran host of Georgia Techs popular big-band program was stilled after a years battle with non-Hodgkin's lymphoma. A native New Yorker, Fred was born in Brooklyn in 1915 and grew up in Yonkers where he worked as a reporter for the Yonkers Herald Statesman before beginning his career as a copywriter, first for Donahue & Coe, Inc. and then for S.W. Frankel and the Hudson Advertising Agency. He also attended classes during this time at both Manhattans famous Art Students League and the now defunct Feagin School of Drama in Rockerfeller Center where he counted John Lund and Angela Lansbury among his classmates. In 1941 Fred enlisted and became a cameraman with the 2nd Motion Picture Combat Camera unit of the Air Force. Having completed his training in California under commanding officer Captain Ronald Regan, Runde served til 1945 in the Pacific theatre in Burma, China and India. Before arriving in Augusta, Georgia, in 1946 to take over as program director for WTNT Radio, Fred spent a year as a radio announcer and as news director for WAGM in Presque Isle, Maine. He subsequently announced for WBBQ and WJBF Radio, serving as news director for each station in turn before becoming news and promotion director for WAUG Radio. Fred returned to Motion Pictures in 1953 when the DuPont Corporation hired him as a writer/producer to document the design and construction of the Savannah River Nuclear Power Plant under the supervision of the United States Joint Congressional Atomic Energy Committee before he moved to Marietta, Georgia, in 1958 to write and direct Motion Pictures for Lockheed for 13 years. After a brief stint as the PR director, first for the Nursecare International chain of nursing homes in 1972 and then the Inner City Development Corporation in 1975, Fred became General Manager for the Cobb Civic Center for one year before he settled into his last professional incarnation as a technical writer, working first for Solid State Systems and then for BBL Industries and Glynnaire until his retirement in 1986. During his years in both Augusta and Marietta, Fred was active in community theater, taking roles with The Augusta Players, and then acting and directing for the Cobb Community Players and finally the Polk Street Players after moving to Marietta. But most people will remember Fred as the host of WREKs "Desoto Hour," a role hhe has played since 1979 and continued to play, week after week, until just six months ago. Rundes "The Desoto Hour," competing with the likes of the Georgia Tech radio stations more typical fare such as "Tonguebath" and "Destroy all Music" garnered the attention 10 years ago of Atlanta Journal/Constitution writer Bo Emerson in April of 1994 and later that year NBCs Bob Dotson when "The Desoto Hour" earned the notoriety of a brief feature during the NBC Nightly News with Tom Brokaw. Fred's hobbies included Ham Radio with conversations done in morse code, producing and directing plays, playing practical jokes and relaxing at the beach. Fred will be remembered for his kind heart, great smile, and his yogieisms. Fred, whose wife Ellen died in 1998, is survived by his two daughters, Eleanor LeViner of Woodstock, Georgia, Charlotte Runde of Chapel Hill, North Carolina, and son, Fred Runde, III of Cartersville, and his two grandchildren, Daniel and Melissa LeViner. Contributions may be made to Wellstar Community Hospice, 4040 Hospital West Dr, Austell, GA 30106 or American Cancer Society, 1825 Barrett Lakes Blvd, Suite 280, Kennesaw, GA 30144. The family will receive friends from 4 to 8 pm Monday at the residence.