Frederick Michael Bauch

Frederick Michael Bauch 1945—2017
Frederick Michael Bauch passed away at home in Naperville, Ill., on Saturday, August 12, 2017 after a brave battle with brain cancer for over a year. His beloved wife Angelika and son Jeffery and family were with him. Fred was born June 5, 1945 in Freeport, Ill. the only son of Ferd and Eva (Thorp) Bauch. He was the sixth of seven children, and a third generation Freeporter. Fred grew up in Freeport where he was a member of St. Thomas Aquinas Catholic Church and attended elementary school there. He graduated from Aquin Central Catholic High School, class of 1964. Fred attended St. Bede College and Nebraska Wesleyan University. In 1967 Fred became a member of the U.S. Army. He was stationed in Germany joining the 556th Military Police Company of the U.S. Army, Europe. It was there that he met his future wife, his soul mate and love of his life, Angelika C. Cipa-Wolko in the city of Heilbronn am Neckar. After the army, Fred returned to the states and worked for the Equipto Division of the Aurora Equipment Company as a sales engineer in Aurora, Ill.. Once established, he sent for Angie and they were married on June 14,1969 at St. Mary's Church in Sycamore, Illinois. Their first son Michael Christoph was born April 1, 1970 in Aurora. Angie's mother was a frequent visitor from Germany and spent several months with the family after Michael was born. Fred moved his young family back to Freeport, Ill in 1972 when he had the opportunity to join the company founded by his father Ferd M. Bauch. Fred served as General Manager and President of Bauch Ever-Soft, a commercial and industrial water treatment company from 1972 to 1974. In 1974 Fred joined Burgess Inc. during its corporate reorganization, when Freeport's Burgess Battery was purchased by the Gould Corporation. He served as the Administrative and Accounting Manager. He was instrumental in helping relocate the Burgess company's headquarters as well as the corporate acquisition of Kono, eye glass manufacturing company, back to the Freeport manufacturing site. A second son Jeffrey Alexander was born in Freeport August 24, 1975. Fred enjoyed his time back in Freeport and especially enjoyed showing Angie his home town and acquainting her with his six sisters and their families as well as his parents and a number of friends and classmates. Fred was very proud of his two boys. In 1975 Fred was approached by a German Company who wanted him to help the company establish a new North American sales and service organization. They offered Fred the position of Corporate Secretary-Treasurer for the newly formed Hemscheidt America Corporation in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, subsidiary of Hemscheidt Gmbh Wuppertal, Germany. Fred was 30 years old. He loved the challenges in his new role as corporate officer. He set up the corporation's internal finance and administrative systems, as well as running the day-to-day operations. Fred was responsible for negotiating construction financing and capital equipment contracts for Hemscheidt America. Fred oversaw the building of Hemscheidt's new 38,000 sq.ft. manufacturing and office complex in Pittsburgh. Fred negotiated a joint manufacturing venture between Hemscheidt and a Canadian company, serving on its board of directors. Fred created a joint warehouse venture between Hemscheidt and Ginco of Denver, Colo., serving as officer and on the board of directors. To get Hemschiedt's long wall mining heavy equipment to the US from Germany, Fred established a new international shipping method which then became the industry standard employing LASH barges for the first time. Through his hard work and meticulous attention to detail he helped his new company quickly achieve one-third market share of the longwall underground coal mining industry's business in North America. Fred and his wife Angelika relocated to Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, buying a home in Upper St. Clair Township, where they raised their family and lived for 42 years. As the boys were growing up Fred was their soccer coach for a number of years, spending hours after work coaching their team and driving to meets. As the boys got older they were involved in other sports and activities which Fred and Angie always attended, cheering them on. They made school events and programs a priority and were always there for the boys. In 1984 Fred left Hemscheidt and took a position as Vice President of Operations and Corporate Secretary-Treasurer with Advanced Mining Technology also located in Pittsburgh area. He then proved invaluable to the company doing what he had before, setting up their financial and administrative systems and running their daily business operations. Fred also helped this company establish its sales and service organization in North America representing major German underground mining equipment manufacturers. As a corporate officer, he also served on the board of directors. Fred had many opportunities to travel back to Germany, traveling extensively in Europe. He always took his wife and partner, Angelika with him and together they visited her mother and many cousins. Both of their sons traveled with them over the years. On Fred's last visit to Germany in 2015 he was accompanied by his son Jeffrey along with his wife and their young children. In 1997, Fred went into business for himself, establishing Bauch Inc. of Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. He represented German manufacturers to North American industries. Up until the last six months Fred worked daily as president of his company servicing steel mills with German steel carbide drills for their blast furnaces. He was often personally on site inspecting their installation and function. In June 2016 Fred was diagnosed with Glioblastoma multiforma, a deadly brain cancer. In April 2017 Fred and Angelika moved from Pittsburgh to Naperville, Ill. to be close to their son Jeffrey and his family. Fred was able to spend more time with his grandchildren who delighted him with their care and concern. Fred will be missed by the many people whose lives he's touched over the years. He will be missed especially by his beloved wife Angelika, they were a team, whether business or pleasure she was always by his side encouraging and helping. Fred is survived by his wife Angelika, his son Michael(Audrey) Bauch and children Alaina and Bethany of Atlanta Georgia, and Jeffrey (Carla)Bauch and children Logan, Autumn and William of Naperville, Ill. Also his sisters, Sr. Patricia Bauch, O.P. Sinsinawa, Wisconsin, Mickey (Pat) Martin,, Freeport, Ill., Kay(Mike) Dorrough, Los Angeles, Calif. Barbara Groves, Freeport, Illinois, Chris Bauch (Brent Blake), Aurora, Colorado, and his many nieces, nephews and cousins. Fred was preceded in death by his parents Ferd and Eva Bauch, and one sister Cherie Bauch Moore, three nieces and one nephew and his mother-in-law Margaret Wolko.
Services will be held at St. Thomas Aquinas Catholic Church in Freeport, Illinois on Wednesday, August 16, 2017 at 10 am. Visitation the evening before will be at Burke Tubbs Funeral Home on Tuesday, August 15, 2017 from 4 pm to 7pm. There will also be a visitation Wednesday 8:30 am until the time of service at St. Thomas. Burial will be in Calvary Cemetery in Freeport. In lieu of flowers, the family requests donations be made, in Memory of Fred, to Aquin Central Catholic High School in Freeport, Ill. Please sign Fred's guestbook and share a story at www.burketubbs.com.