Frederick Held

Frederick “Fred” Held, beloved husband, father, grandfather, brother, and friend passed away on August 29th, 2023. Still living is his wife, Karen Held, two daughters, Heidi Fielding and Krystal Roark, and their families.

Born October 17th, 1937 in Brooklyn, New York to Sampson and Anna Held, the family moved to North Hollywood in 1940 where Sampson was a leading test pilot for Lockheed during World War II. Fred graduated from Hollywood High School in 1955 as a member of the winning High School Swim Team. As a member of Sigma Phi Epsilon fraternity, he played conga drums at many social events and graduated with a bachelor and master of science in industrial engineering from USC.

As a LA City Beach Lifeguard, he designed the lifeguard towers you see today with over 25,000 of them installed on nearly every beach in the world. Fred was a Sales Engineer for Ingersoll Rand, a member of NASA's Lunar Lander team in Project Management at Cal Tech, and an Engineer for Northrop in Project Management on the guidance system that later became one for the Cruise Missiles.

Later, Fred worked for Mattel Toys for 24 years as head of Management Information Services, Global Operations, and Vice President of Marketing. Additionally, he joined McDonald's contractors to create and manufacture Happy Meal Promotions, then IBM to help clients develop a plan to incorporate the Internet into their organization. Representing IBM, he developed, marketed, and implemented the very successful class of nearly two hundred students at UCLA called, “How to make money on the Internet.” It was so popular, there was a waiting list! Additionally, he was a part-time member of UCLA's teaching staff in Business and Engineering, where he created and taught the first class in the US about the Internet. After teaching for California State Los Angeles technical division, Fred retired.

Fred enjoyed golf, snow skiing (until 80 years old), gardening, tennis, performing in productions at the Norris Theatre, and spending time with his wife, family, and friends.

A celebration of his life will be held on Saturday, September 30 at 11 AM at St. Peter’s by the Sea Presbyterian Church in Rancho Palos Verdes.

Donations can be made on his behalf to:
American Cancer Society http://www.cancer.org
Palos Verdes Performing Arts http://app.arts-people.com/index.php?donation=pvpa