Otto H. Fritz
Otto H. Fritz, a prominent and prosperous resident of Cincinnati, is the president of the Fritz Brothers Company, wholesale manufacturers of high grade cigars and buyers and shippers of leaf tobacco. He was born in Germany in 1853 and was still but a child when brought to this country by his parents, his father’s demise occurring shortly after his arrival in the United States. The family home was established in Cincinnati, Ohio. Our subject was the second of four sons, the others being Emil, Richard and Theodore. All were natives of the fatherland and came to this country in childhood. Otto H. Fritz attended the schools of Cincinnati in the acquirement of an education and when twenty-one years of age entered business life in association with his three brothers, Richard and Theodore having not yet attained their majority. They had learned the cigar maker’s trade in this city and in 1874 began the manufacture of cigars in a small building on Main street near Liberty street. A few years later the growth of the business necessitated larger quarters, which they obtained on Main street between Third and Fourth streets. About twenty years later, in 1895, they removed to their present location at the corner of Race and Canal streets, where the Fritz Brothers Company has since utilized a large factory embracing sixty thousand square feet of floor space. The concern was incorporated in 1904 with a capital stock of two hundred and fifty thousand dollars. Employment is furnished to about seven hundred people in the Cincinnati factory and a branch factory is also conducted at Tampa, Florida. Only two of the brothers who established the business are now connected therewith, Emil Fritz having passed away in 1900, while Theodore was called to his final rest in 1908. Otto H. Fritz is the president of the company, while his son, Wallace, acts in the capacity of vice president. The Fritz Brothers Company manufactures about ten different brands of cigars, their principal output being the “Marguerite,” a ten-cent Havana cigar. They are also packers and shippers of leaf tobacco, owning warehouses at Germantown, Ohio and at Lancaster, Pennsylvania.
Mr. Fritz has not confined his attention to his manufacturing interests, however. He assisted in the organization of the Atlas National Bank of Cincinnati and served as a director for several years but is not connected with the institution at the present time. He identified with journalistic interests as the secretary and treasurer of the Cincinnati Freie Presse Company, publishers of the daily and weekly Cincinnati Freie Presse, a German newspaper. Mr. Fritz owes his success to his innate resources and principally to his perseverance, excellent business judgement and good management.
As a companion and helpmate on the journey of life Otto H. Fritz chose Miss Catharine Otte, a daughter of George F. Otte. Their union was blessed with two children, namely: Wallace, the vice president of the Fritz Brothers Company; and Ella, the wife of Louis Merkle, who is a member of the firm of Merkle Brothers of Cincinnati. Mr. Fritz is a worthy exemplar of the Masonic fraternity. The salient qualities of his life have ever commended him to the confidence, good will and friendship of those with whom he comes in contact and he has always enjoyed the high regard of a host of warm friends.
From Cincinnati, The Queen City, Volume III, by Rev. Charles Frederic Goss, S. J. Clarke Publishing Co., 1912