In the mid-'50s, Fritts
attended Menlo College, where he became the No. 1 player on
the tennis team. It was there that he met Gordon Wickersham,
a Bakersfield native who competed on the Bay Area school's
track and field team. Together, the two went on to Stanford,
where Fritts majored in political science, graduating
alongside his friend in 1958.
After college, Fritts
joined the U.S. Army, and after his release from active duty
joined the staff of a San Francisco department store, where
he began training as a buyer. He quickly discovered that he
missed the newspaper business.
In August 1960, Fritts
moved to Bakersfield to start his career in the family
business.
"I am aware that no other
business is as close to human endeavor in all fields as that
of a good community newspaper," he said upon joining The
Californian at the age of 23.
As soon as he committed to
moving to Bakersfield, Fritts called Wickersham, looking for
a roommate. His friend agreed to give the arrangement a try.
"He said he wanted to live
in 'the village,' a swinging singles apartment (complex),"
Wickersham said in a 2000 interview. "It certainly was. The
first morning (as tenants) we found a Ford T-Bird in the
swimming pool.
"The only problem I had
with Don is that the dates I brought to the apartment
thought he was cuter than me," Wickersham said.
Jim Tucker, who worked at
The Californian from 1954 until his retirement as director
of operations in 1990, got to know Fritts in 1962.
"He was always very
pleasant, a true gentleman," Tucker said. "He had a very dry
sense of humor, very witty. He was always cracking jokes,
but in good taste."
The two used to go fishing
for trout near the Rainbow Lodge in British Columbia,
Canada.
"He was honest about his
fish but was always calling everyone else into question on
the (alleged) size of theirs," Tucker said.
Fritts demonstrated an
early love -- and a proficiency -- for sportswriting, but he
adapted well to his leadership role.
He is credited with
founding the newspaper's Golden Empire section, a
now-defunct tabloid that focused on agricultural issues --
and broke new ground with its quality color reproduction.
Golden Empire eventually was folded into the newspaper's
Business section.
He was named general
manager and publisher of the newspaper in May 1970 and
retained title of publisher, eventually sharing it with his
brother Ted Fritts until his retirement in July 1991.
Fritts wrote an
every-other-Sunday column, "On the Fritts," which alternated
with one written by Ted.
He took seriously his
newspaper's role as a forum for public opinion,
editorializing once that "each reader, in our opinion, is
entitled to his opinions -- and we respect that right. If we
champion freedom of the press, wouldn't our policy be
hypocritical if we didn't print the views of those who
disagree?"
Employees of The
Californian had great affection for Fritts, a shy,
soft-spoken man who could be funny and thoughtful.
"Don was quite bashful but
he was very much a gentleman and I think he cared about the
people in the newsroom very much," said Joe D. Stevenson,
the recently retired Californian columnist who served as an
editor and reporter for 32 years.
"In the last week of 1978,
after I'd been appointed business editor, he walked by my
desk one day. He said, 'Joe, would you like to go to the
Rose Bowl?' And I said, 'Sure,' kind of laughing, and he
handed me two tickets to the game. We got to go see USC
(Stevenson's alma mater) beat Michigan on his tickets.
That's the kind of guy he was -- reticent but also very
thoughtful."
Fritts struck up a
friendship with his personal secretary, Fay Walters, that
lasted 35 years.
As a result of his
illness, Fritts walked with a stagger and sometimes knocked
over beverages, Walters said. "People were known to accuse
him of being drunk, but it was the Huntington's. He had a
pretty good sense of humor about it, though."
Fritts loved cars and
golf, and remained a capable tennis player well after the
onset of his symptoms.
Fritts' sister, Ginger, remembers her mother, Berenice
Fritts Koerber, relaying what Don had said about
Huntington's after accompanying Mrs. Koerber to church one
Sunday.
"I prayed that Ted and
Ginger would never get this disease," Don told his mother.
They didn't.
The illness slowly robbed
Fritts of his motor skills and, eventually, his ability to
communicate. But even when he could speak, Fritts avoided
the "why me?" question.
"I never heard him once
complain about his malady," said Wickersham, a Bakersfield
jeweler whose youngest son, Alex, knew Fritts as his
godfather.
Major contributor to
charity
After his retirement,
Fritts continued to live in Bakersfield, where Walters
oversaw his care and for about five years hosted a
Huntington's support group in his home.
Over the years, Fritts was
a major contributor to civic and charitable causes.
Beneficiaries have included the Florence Wheeler Cancer
Center at Mercy Hospital, Cal State Bakersfield, Society for
Crippled Children, Kern County Museum Foundation, Juvenile
Diabetes Foundation, Bakersfield College Technology Center,
Hereditary Disease Foundation and The Californian Cup tennis
tournament.
Through his work with The
Bakersfield Californian Foundation, Fritts contributed to
the Kern Adult Literacy Council, Boys and Girls Club of
Bakersfield, Bakersfield Music Theater, Bakersfield Museum
of Art, Bakersfield Symphony Orchestra, Community Connection
for Child Care, Camp KEEP Sierra, American Cancer Society
and Junior Achievement.
Fritts was a member of St.
Paul's Episcopal Church, Rotary Club, Bakersfield Racquet
Club, Stockdale Country Club, Petroleum Club and Rio Bravo
Resort tennis club.
His home in the Old
Stockdale area of southwest Bakersfield will be donated to
the Hereditary Disease Foundation, according to his
surviving sister, Ginger.
Fritts and Moorhouse are
two in a long line of family members who have led the
company.
Alfred Harrell bought the
newspaper on Jan. 26, 1897. Harrell's wife, Virginia McKamy
Harrell, served as publisher for eight years after his death
in 1946; their only child, Bernice Harrell Chipman, served
as next president (1954-67); and Chipman's only living
child, Berenice Fritts Koerber, in turn succeeded her
(1967-88).
After longtime general
manager Walter Kane retired, Koerber directed a transitional
period that brought the founder's great-grandsons into
prominence: In October 1966, at age 29, Don became the
executive editor; and in May 1967, Bill Fritts, just 27,
became the newspaper's general manager and co-publisher.
Bill Fritts left the
newspaper in 1970 and moved back to San Francisco, where he
owned a men's clothing store. He committed suicide a year
later at age 32.
Don, who had been "very,
very close to Bill," according to Walters, became publisher.
Shortly afterward, Ted Fritts, then 25, was named the
newspaper's public relations director.
Ted, who later served as executive editor and co-publisher
from 1978 until 1988, died in July 1997 of complications
from AIDS at age 50.
Ginger Moorhouse has three
children: Tracey E. Cowenhoven, who works as an editorial
writer for The Californian; Virginia "Ginny" L. Cowenhoven,
who works as a communications analyst in The Californian's
marketing department; and Peter Cowenhoven, who works at
BlackRock Funds in Boston. Because none of the three Fritts
brothers had children, the three Cowenhoven siblings are
Harrell's only heirs.
Huntington's symptoms
usually manifest themselves in mid-life when neurons in the
brain begin to die, causing a progressive deterioration of
intellectual ability, emotional control, balance and speech.
Chorea, or involuntary movement, is nearly always a symptom
as well.
The disease -- named for
Dr. George Huntington, who first described the disorder in
1872 -- is caused by a single dominant gene. Every child of
an affected parent has a 50 percent chance of inheriting it.
Huntington's is now
recognized as one of the more common genetic disorders,
according to the Huntington's Disease Society of America.
Some 250,000 Americans have Huntington's or are at risk of
inheriting the disease, according to the HDSA.
Early symptoms of
Huntington's disease may include problems with thinking or
mobility, mood swings, forgetfulness, clumsiness,
involuntary twitching and lack of coordination. Later,
concentration and short-term memory may diminish and
involuntary movements of the head, trunk and limbs may
increase. The abilities to walk, speak and swallow usually
deteriorate.
Fritts' remains are to be
cremated; no services will be held. Remembrances in Fritts'
name may be made to the Cal State Bakersfield Foundation or
the Kern County Museum.
