MILWAUKEE, Jan. 9— Edmund Fitzgerald, an insurance executive for whom an ill-fated Great Lakes freighter was named, died here today. He was 90 years old. Mr. Fitzgerald was the former chairman of Northwestern Mutual Life Insurance Company.
The company built the 729-foot Edmund Fitzgerald, an ore carrier that was the largest vessel on the Great Lakes when she was launched in 1958. But she sank in a storm on Lake Superior on Nov. 11, 1975, killing all 29 men aboard. The disaster was immortalized the next year by songwriter Gordon Lightfoot in ''The Wreck of the Edmund Fitzgerald.''
Mr. Fitzgerald became a trustee of Northwestern Mutual in 1933, moved up to vice president that same year and became the company's president in 1947. In 1958, he was elected to the newly created position of chairman of the board, serving in that post for two years until retirement.
His father, William Edmund Fitzgerald, was president of Milwaukee Drydock Company, which built and repaired ships, and his grandfather, John Fitzgerald, was a ship captain.
Mr. Fitzgerald leaves his daughter, Elizabeth Cutler; a son, Edmund Bacon Fitzgerald, the chairman of Northern Telecom Ltd. of Canada; seven grandchildren and seven great-grandchildren.
The company built the 729-foot Edmund Fitzgerald, an ore carrier that was the largest vessel on the Great Lakes when she was launched in 1958. But she sank in a storm on Lake Superior on Nov. 11, 1975, killing all 29 men aboard. The disaster was immortalized the next year by songwriter Gordon Lightfoot in ''The Wreck of the Edmund Fitzgerald.''
Mr. Fitzgerald became a trustee of Northwestern Mutual in 1933, moved up to vice president that same year and became the company's president in 1947. In 1958, he was elected to the newly created position of chairman of the board, serving in that post for two years until retirement.
His father, William Edmund Fitzgerald, was president of Milwaukee Drydock Company, which built and repaired ships, and his grandfather, John Fitzgerald, was a ship captain.
Mr. Fitzgerald leaves his daughter, Elizabeth Cutler; a son, Edmund Bacon Fitzgerald, the chairman of Northern Telecom Ltd. of Canada; seven grandchildren and seven great-grandchildren.
MILWAUKEE, Jan. 9— Edmund Fitzgerald, an insurance executive for whom an ill-fated Great Lakes freighter was named, died here today. He was 90 years old. Mr. Fitzgerald was the former chairman of Northwestern Mutual Life Insurance Company.
The company built the 729-foot Edmund Fitzgerald, an ore carrier that was the largest vessel on the Great Lakes when she was launched in 1958. But she sank in a storm on Lake Superior on Nov. 11, 1975, killing all 29 men aboard. The disaster was immortalized the next year by songwriter Gordon Lightfoot in ''The Wreck of the Edmund Fitzgerald.''
Mr. Fitzgerald became a trustee of Northwestern Mutual in 1933, moved up to vice president that same year and became the company's president in 1947. In 1958, he was elected to the newly created position of chairman of the board, serving in that post for two years until retirement.
His father, William Edmund Fitzgerald, was president of Milwaukee Drydock Company, which built and repaired ships, and his grandfather, John Fitzgerald, was a ship captain.
Mr. Fitzgerald leaves his daughter, Elizabeth Cutler; a son, Edmund Bacon Fitzgerald, the chairman of Northern Telecom Ltd. of Canada; seven grandchildren and seven great-grandchildren.
The company built the 729-foot Edmund Fitzgerald, an ore carrier that was the largest vessel on the Great Lakes when she was launched in 1958. But she sank in a storm on Lake Superior on Nov. 11, 1975, killing all 29 men aboard. The disaster was immortalized the next year by songwriter Gordon Lightfoot in ''The Wreck of the Edmund Fitzgerald.''
Mr. Fitzgerald became a trustee of Northwestern Mutual in 1933, moved up to vice president that same year and became the company's president in 1947. In 1958, he was elected to the newly created position of chairman of the board, serving in that post for two years until retirement.
His father, William Edmund Fitzgerald, was president of Milwaukee Drydock Company, which built and repaired ships, and his grandfather, John Fitzgerald, was a ship captain.
Mr. Fitzgerald leaves his daughter, Elizabeth Cutler; a son, Edmund Bacon Fitzgerald, the chairman of Northern Telecom Ltd. of Canada; seven grandchildren and seven great-grandchildren.
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