Freeman Fike guided new town of Clyde Hill
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He also kept eager developers at bay.
"When he saw something that needed doing, he made it happen," said his son, Dick Fike of Seattle.
"He didn't seek the limelight, but he found himself in it."
Mr. Fike died on Tuesday (Jan. 15) in his sleep at a Seattle nursing home. He was 97.
He grew up in Portland and attended Oregon State University, where he met his future wife, Beth, and received his electrical-engineering degree in 1927.
He married his college sweetheart a year later and worked for his father-in-law's janitorial-supply company as a salesman, later moving to Seattle to run the company's local branch.
Mr. Fike noticed all the Seattle downtown buildings were buying their supplies from Seattle Hardware, so he offered them free delivery and won them over.
In 1946, he started his own janitorial-supply company and bought out a competitor, renaming the company Janco United.
Mr. Fike moved to the Clyde Hill area in 1950 to build his dream home, with a view of Lake Washington and the Seattle skyline. When Bellevue had the idea of annexing the area, and developers had visions of building tract homes there, Mr. Fike pushed to make Clyde Hill a town with its own local government. The town was incorporated in 1953.
Despite pressure from the community and business leaders, Mr. Fike, who served as mayor from 1955 to 1962, pushed to retain minimum lot sizes of 20,000 square feet, refusing to allow the area to turn into a tract-home community.
Developers were outraged, and neighbors were worried the town would never prosper with such strict zoning laws. But Clyde Hill became one of Seattle's wealthiest suburbs. Today, its properties rank among Western Washington's most expensive.
"He was a visionary," said his son.
He also was a faithful churchgoer and helped build First Presbyterian Church in Bellevue, where he helped raise more than $200,000. A memorial service will be held at the church at 2 p.m. Wednesday.
Mr. Fike had four children, and he always was preaching to them, especially about how to succeed in business and life. He once told his son not to drive too close behind the car in front of him because "you are going to suck up his exhaust." His son was 64 at the time.
"Even to the end in life, he was telling me what to do," Mr. Fike's son said.
Mr. Fike also is survived by his daughter, Janine Summers of Bellevue, eight grandchildren and six great-grandchildren.
The family requests no flowers. Memorial contributions may be made to the John Freeman Fike Scholarship Fund, Whitman College, Walla Walla, WA 99362.
Tan Vinh can be reached at 206- 515-5656 or tvinh@seattletimes.com.