Unexpectedly, the well known business man and lover of art, Fritz von Frantzius, died in his home, Jan. 8th. Pneumonia and nephritis was the cause of the altogether too early demise of this exceptionally active man. As a steerage immigrant, at the age of twenty-three, he came to New York where for many years he was active in small commercial enterprises. With infinite patience he waited for his opportunity to advance.

Letting his daring spirit of enterprise run loose, he finally founded in 1899 the banking firm of Frantzius and Houseman of Chicago, with an investment of only $200.00. in cash, but with a good deal of commercial knowledge and initiative. Two years later he dissolved his partnership to build up the firm of Frantzius and Company, with Ben Marcuse as partner, and inside of two years it had become one of the first banking establishments of Chicago.

During the war, Fritz von Frantzius, as a true German, protested energetically in word and script against the campaign of lies, through which the Allies tried to compensate for their deficient military success.

Von Frantzius is mourned by his two children, Peter von Frantzius and Anne Marie von Frantzius.