Frederick W. Immermann

Frederick (Fred) William Immermann, formerly a resident of Fairfield, CT, passed away peacefully at home in Bloomfield, NJ on December 26, 2024. He was 96 years old. He will be greatly missed and lovingly remembered by those he leaves behind, his five children and their spouses – Frederick (Rick) Immermann Jr. and Ann Herriott, Jill Immermann and Roberto Espinosa, Susan Immermann Driscoll and John Driscoll, Greta Immermann, and Janet Immermann and Elchi Nowrojee; his eleven grandchildren – Eric, Alex, Joshua, Johanna, Jeremy, Adam, Kate, Jessica, Margaret, Zarin, and Gus; and his eight great grandchildren – Zoe, Layla, Kade, Evie, Liam, Callum, Lucas, and Sam. 

Fred was born in New York City on December 18, 1928, to Fannie Hoferer and Frederick Tetzlaff. He had one older sister, Francine, with whom he shared a lifelong bond and friendship. Fannie later married William Immermann, who Fred considered like a father, and Fred took his last name. He lived in various places throughout his childhood: Copiague, Long Island, Washington, DC, Florida, Pennsylvania, and finally Maspeth, NY where he graduated high school, and met his wife Margaret Hornecker through their mutual friend Johnny Krieg. He joined the Navy in 1948 and served in the Sea Bees (Construction Battalion) until 1952. 

Fred and Margo married in 1953, lived for a brief time in Long Island, and then moved to Connecticut, first to Stamford and then Fairfield. After having grown up working in the family diner with his mom and step-dad, he learned draftsmanship in the Navy. He worked as a draftsman for the rest of his career at various companies, on design projects as diverse as airplane landing gear, chainsaws, and equipment for oil exploration, medical x-rays, commercial kitchens and letter handling. Among others. He completed Associate degrees in Mechanical and Civil Engineering in the early 1970s. 

Fred was driven to be busy all the time; when not at his official job, he was fixing something around the house, or the rental house, or one of his kids’ houses, or the car, or working on his motorcycle(s) or sailboat. He started riding a scooter in the fifties, so that Margo could have the car during the days; he quickly progressed to a motorcycle, which became one of his favorite pastimes.

He enormously enjoyed riding his motorcycle, and prided himself on riding in all weather. After he broke his leg around 1980, he only rode the motorcycle with a sidecar, and liked to give people (especially his grandkids) a ride for fun. He loved sailing too, and shared with Margaret a love of the sea and swimming. The beach was one of the few places he would allow himself to relax. 

In 2016, Fred and Margo moved to Bloomfield, NJ to be closer to family. They had been married 63 years when Margo died that same year. 

Fred spent the last eight and a half years living in Bloomfield with his daughter Greta, who did an extraordinary job of taking care of him with love and dignity. His other children spent weekends with him periodically, and Janet’s family was lucky enough to have him close by to spend time with. But Greta was his mainstay. With Greta, while he was still able, he worked at Tony’s Kitchen for several years helping to prepare meals for those in need, and took art classes at the Bloomfield Community Center. During the last few years, as his health deteriorated, we hired an aide, Charisma, to help with his care. She developed a wonderful relationship with him, and was a source of much care, comfort, and happiness for him. She has our thanks forever.

Things he loved: He loved blueberries and belly busters (a chocolate ice cream float with rootbeer) and hamburgers and fried potatoes, sauerbraten and kartoffelkloesse. Chocolate chips in his puffed rice. He enjoyed playing old songs on the ukulele, and listening to Mom play the piano, swimming in the sea, sailing, and riding his motorcycle. He liked playing cribbage and watching the Muppets, MASH, Carol Burnett, and old movies. He always loved animals and had great patience taking care of them, even when they were sick. In his years living with Greta, they always had cats and a dog in the house, and Dad loved petting them and sneaking them treats. 

He loved seeing and playing with his grandkids, and was wonderful with babies – feeding them, changing them, rocking them to sleep.

He had a strong sense of humor right to the end, which is almost certainly what helped him survive for 96 years, along with deep faith, pure stubbornness and an incredibly strong constitution. 

Fred was a person who would have done anything for any one of his kids, his wife, his sister Francine and her family - and, honestly, anybody who asked. He was genuinely so happy being able to do things for other people.

We were blessed to know him, have time with him, and be loved by him. We will miss him so much.