Fred P. "Fritz" Westenberger

What age is it when you understand what a parent is? 3,4,5 years old? Whatever it was for us Westenberger kids, once we did understand, we also instantly knew how lucky we were to get a father like ours. He wasn’t just fun and indulgent and all the things that are important when you’re little, he was unwaveringly supportive as we got older and started screwing up (as adolescents will). The home he and our mother made for us was not just a physical place, but a warm, steady, emotional space. And we will all forever miss the man that helped make that home.

Fred P. “Fritz” Westenberger passed away in the early hours of March 21, 2023, surrounded in his last days by his entire family. He had just made 90 years old on February 25, and was gunning for 91. But heaven needed a headliner at their comedy club (an eternity of Rodney Dangerfield is a little much), and our prankster-in-chief was called away.

Dad played a lot of roles and had many adventures as he journeyed from Wisconsin farm boy to radio mogul, but what everyone – family, friends and offended strangers - most remembers about him was his irreverent sense of humor. Concocting pranks and reciting jokes and funny stories was his favorite pastime, even more than tennis and indulging his six grandkids.

Some might also remember Fritz Westenberger as the Jesuit High School Class of ’51 graduate, and as the record-setting track star of Loyola’s 1951/52 team. He always said that starting bloc was the launchpad to everything he would later achieve in life, which included nabbing the most beautiful girl on campus. He earned both a law and a business degree from Loyola, and eventually found himself owner of 10 radio stations in the Southeast.

He loved to turn our insulated suburban world into a wonderland, from simple gestures like building a go-kart track and hand-pouring a regulation-sized tennis court in the backyard to grand ones, like having a traveling circus deliver a baby elephant and pretending he’d bought it as a pet.

He also took great pleasure in showing us the wonderful world outside of our familiar one. From weekend convertible rides through the French Quarter to summers on tropical islands, from European jaunts to African safaris, his delight in the diversity that makes up the human race was infectious. He carried this love throughout his life, he and our mom going on unforgettable trips with their close friends the Schillescis and the Piliés well into their 80s.

In fact, it took a long while before time could slow the track star down. He was the same constant source of delight and excitement to his grandchildren as he’d been to his wife and children. Except maybe when he would pick them up from school with a giant Spongebob doll in the passenger seat of his convertible Mini Cooper. That was something they would laugh about later, right?

A man who brings generosity and laughter wherever he goes is a rare treasure in this world. Dad left so many people better in his wake, and as those who benefited the most - who could run and risk and know he would be there when we fell – we are left eternally grateful, and committed to carrying Dad’s spirit everywhere we go. You will always be loved and never be forgotten, Fred P. Westenberger. You lived the mantra you loved to recite: For when the One Great Scorer comes to mark against your name, He writes – not that you won or lost – but how you played the Game. You played the game like a pro, Dad. Now go kill up there at the great comedy club in the sky.

This little story about a man with a big heart is brought to you by his loving wife of 64 years, Ann Lala Westenberger; his four children, Chris Westenberger, Fritz Westenberger, Lisa Jordan, and Eric Westenberger; his six grandchildren, Erica Westenberger, Fritz Westenberger, Emily Westenberger, Trey Jordan, Ian Westenberger, and Zachary Jordan; his childrens’ spouses and partners, Roger Jordan and TQ Sims; his sister-in-law, Janet Lauer, and her son and his wife, Kevin and Brooke Lauer; and extended family and friends too many to count. He is preceded in death by his father, Herald “Pete” Westenberger, and his mother, Myrtle Robbert Westenberger.

Memorial and chapel services will be held at Lake Lawn Metairie Funeral Home on Monday, March 27, starting at 10 am.