芝加哥商业地产高管弗雷德里克·福特（Frederick Ford）是历史悠久芝加哥联盟俱乐部首位黑人主席，他利用这一职位游说市政官员新建一座主公共图书馆，而非改造卢普区一家老百货商店。
福特（Ford）最初是一名会计师，后来晋升为德雷珀与克雷默公司（Draper and Kramer）的首席财务官，并最终担任副总裁。该公司是一家总部位于芝加哥的房地产开发商和物业管理公司，成立于1893年。
已退休的德雷珀与克雷默公司高级副总裁默里·"特里普"·沃尔巴克三世表示："弗雷德才华横溢，但除了聪明才智之外，他更是你一生中能遇到的最友善的人。他精通数字，却远不止于此。在我看来，弗雷德与普通数字专家的本质区别在于他的人文情怀。"
据其女儿丽贝卡透露，98岁的福特因肺炎并发症于7月14日在西北纪念医院去世。福特生前居住在印刷厂街社区的迪尔伯恩公园，此前曾在加里市长期定居。
福特出生于圣路易斯，父亲拉斐特·福特曾任全国邮政雇员联盟主席，母亲名为弗洛伦斯·福特。由于当时密苏里大学实行种族隔离政策，福特无法入学，遂转赴伊利诺伊州求学，并于1948年获得伊利诺伊大学厄巴纳-香槟分校会计学学士学位，成为该校首位黑人学生议会主席。次年，他继续在该校取得会计学硕士学位，并于1953年通过伊利诺伊州注册会计师考试。
在伊利诺伊大学就读期间，福特结识了他未来的妻子多萝西。当时多萝西在基督教青年会（YMCA）担任服务员，而福特则在那里做救生员。两人于1953年喜结连理。
1949年至1951年间，福特曾在美国首位非裔女性注册会计师玛丽·T·华盛顿创办的一家小型会计师事务所工作。1951年，他加入德雷珀和克雷默公司担任会计师，随后迅速晋升为专项会计主管，继而担任财务总监，最终成为首席财务官。
曾为德雷珀和克雷默代理案件的退休律师拉里·梅杰斯表示，福特表现得“镇定自若”。
梅杰斯表示："他沉着冷静，不易激动，处理问题、事务和疑问时总是深思熟虑。虽然他的直觉敏锐，本能反应出色，但只要有机会，他一定会花时间透彻思考。无论周遭环境如何纷扰，他总能起到稳定人心的作用。"
梅杰斯将福特形容为德雷珀与克雷默公司中难得一见的人才。
“房地产行业有两类人：数字金融型人才和房地产专业型人才，”梅杰斯说道，“而他兼具这两类人才的特质。”
福特于1965年加入基督教青年会（YMCA）经理委员会，并于1968年被任命为加里市学校董事会成员。
1969年，福特成为首位被芝加哥联盟俱乐部接纳的黑人成员。这一举措并非毫无争议，据《论坛报》1969年援引的一封信件报道，部分会员传阅信件抱怨称，俱乐部董事会"在未充分确认全体会员意愿的情况下贸然改变传统，实属轻率之举"。
时任俱乐部主席、拉萨尔国民银行董事长米尔顿·达尔（Milton Darr）曾与福特共同任职于芝加哥基督教青年会董事会。针对部分持异议的俱乐部成员，他致信全体会员，强调福特是“一位极其杰出的绅士”，且该决定是遵循俱乐部常规入会流程作出的。
福特1969年对《论坛报》表示："我与俱乐部成员的关系一直很好。我每周大约去俱乐部三次，如果不是看到那封信，我根本不会知道这件事。坦白说，这完全没有改变我的态度。我认为事情最终会平息。"
1985年，福特（Ford）依照传统成为该俱乐部首位黑人主席，任期一年。同年，他代表俱乐部游说芝加哥公共图书馆董事会，反对将位于州街和杰克逊大道拐角处的老戈德布拉特百货公司（Goldblatt Bros.）改建为永久性中央图书馆。他认为，将废弃零售商店改造后的空间作为图书馆并不合适。
福特在1985年对《论坛报》表示：“没有完善的图书馆系统，就不可能拥有优质的教育体系。”
福特是众多反对戈德布拉特计划的发声者之一。最终，市政府官员决定在南面一个街区处修建哈罗德·华盛顿图书馆，该馆于1991年落成开放。
“我对他所有的成就深感钦佩，”已退休的会计师、前芝加哥联邦储备银行主席莱斯特·麦基弗说道。作为一位长期好友，麦基弗本人也是芝加哥颇具开拓精神的非裔商人。他表示：“无论走到哪里，他最终都能成为领袖。作为联盟俱乐部首位非裔主席，这再次证明了他始终举足轻重的地位。”
1991年从德雷珀和克雷默公司（Draper and Kramer）首席财务官职位退休后，福特（Ford）仍以副董事长身份留任。此后约二十年里，他一直担任这一职务。
福特和妻子在佛罗里达州那不勒斯也有一处住所。
除了女儿和妻子外，福德的在世亲人还包括儿子拉斐特、女婿（前《论坛报》记者唐·特里）以及两个孙辈。
追悼会计划于九月在联盟俱乐部举行。
戈德斯伯勒是一名自由记者。
Chicago commercial real estate executive Frederick Ford was the first Black president of the venerable Union League Club of Chicago, a position he used to lobby city officials to build a new main public library instead of repurposing an old Loop department store..
Trained as an accountant, Ford rose to become the chief financial officer and then vice chairman of Draper and Kramer, the Chicago-based real estate developer and property manager founded in 1893.
Fred was quite brilliant, but beyond the fact that he was brilliant, he was just about the nicest guy you ever met in your life, said Murray Trip Wolbach III, a retired Draper and Kramer senior vice president. He was a numbers person, but he was so much more than that, and what separates Fred in my mind from your typical numbers man is his humanity.
Ford, 98, died of complications from pneumonia July 14 at Northwestern Memorial Hospital, said his daughter, Rebecca. Ford lived in Dearborn Park in the Printers Row neighborhood and previously had been a longtime resident of Gary.
Born in St. Louis, Ford was the son of Florence Ford and Lafayette Ford, who had been the president of the National Alliance of Postal Employees. Unable to get into the segregated University of Missouri, Ford moved to Illinois and received a bachelors degree in accounting in 1948 from the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign, where he was the first Black president of the student senate. He picked up a masters degree in accounting from the U. of I. the following year, and in 1953 passed Illinois certified public accountant exam.
While at the U. of I., Ford met his future wife, Dorothy, who was working as a waitress at a YMCA where Ford worked as a lifeguard. The couple married in 1953.
From 1949 until 1951, Ford worked for a small accounting firm founded by Mary T. Washington, who was the first Black female CPA in the U.S. In 1951, he joined Draper and Kramer as an accountant. He soon rose to become supervisor of special accounting and then controller and finally chief financial officer.
Larry Mages, a retired lawyer who represented Draper and Kramer, said Ford was unflappable.
He was calm not excitable and he approached problems, issues and questions very thoughtfully, Mages said. And viscerally, gut instinct-wise, he had very good instincts, but if he had the opportunity to take time to think something through, thats what he did. He was just always kind of a calming influence no matter what was going on around him.
Mages characterized Ford as a rare talent within Draper and Kramer.
There are two types of people in the real estate industry: the numbers and finance people and the real estate people, Mages said. He combined those things and had them both.
Ford joined the YMCAs board of managers in 1965, and in 1968, he was appointed to Garys school board.
In 1969, Ford was the first Black member admitted to the Union League Club of Chicago. The move was not without controversy, as some members circulated a letter complaining that the clubs board had acted imprudently in making a major change in tradition without ascertaining fully the wishes of the entire membership, according to a 1969 Tribune article that quoted the letter.
The clubs president at the time, LaSalle National Bank Chairman Milton Darr, had served on the Chicago YMCA board with Ford, and in response to dissident club members, he wrote a letter to the club membership emphasizing that Ford was a highly qualified gentleman and that the action had been taken following normal club admission processes.
Ford told the Tribune in 1969 that my relationship with club members has been just fine. Im at the club about three times a week, and if I had not seen the letter, I would never have known about the incident. Frankly, it hasnt changed my attitude at all. I think it will all blow over in time.
In 1985, Ford became the clubs first Black president for a one-year term, by tradition. Speaking on behalf of the club in 1985, Ford lobbied Chicago Public Library board members to decide against converting the old Goldblatt Bros. department store, at the corner of State Street and Jackson Boulevard, into a permanent central library. He did not think a retrofitted former retail store was adequate.
We cannot have a good educational system without a good library system, Ford told the Tribune in 1985.
Fords was one of several voices raised in opposition to the Goldblatts plan, and ultimately, city officials decided to construct the Harold Washington Library a block to the south. It opened in 1991.
I had such admiration for all his accomplishments, said retired accountant and former Federal Reserve Bank of Chicago Chair Lester McKeever, a longtime friend and pioneering Black businessman in Chicago himself. He wound up being a leader wherever he went. As the Union Leagues very first Black president, that was another demonstration of how important he always (was).
After retiring as Draper and Kramers chief financial officer in 1991, Ford remained with the firm as vice chairman. He remained in that role for the next two decades or so.
Ford and his wife also had a home in Naples, Florida.
In addition to his daughter and his wife, Ford is survived by a son, Lafayette; a son-in-law, former Tribune reporter Don Terry; and two grandchildren.
A memorial service is planned for September at the Union League Club.
Goldsborough is a freelance reporter.
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