- Date Of Birth: December 15, 1943
- Date Of Death: June 27, 2010
- State: Texas
December 15, 1943 – June 27, 2010
Fritz Whittington was born to Lee and Lorraine Whittington in Lufkin, Texas on December15, 1943. He was christened Donald Juneau Whittington. During a German class in high school he began to be called “Fritz” while his best friend was called “Hans”. From then on he was known to family and friends as “Fritz”. Eventually he legally changed his name to Fritz Whittington. Fritz contracted polio as a child, spending some time in an iron lung. His family moved to Houston to obtain medical treatment for him. The family later lived in San Antonio, where Fritz graduated from Central Catholic High School. Fritz then went to St. Mary”s University, graduating in 1966 with a B.S degree in Physics and Math. Fritz had a brilliant mind and unending intellectual curiosity. He continued his studies all his life. He had 15 hours of graduate study at the University of Texas at Dallas in computer studies, took courses at the Texas Instruments Learning Center, and relished advanced Bible studies at the Episcopal Church of theTransfiguration. After retirement, Fritz earned an electrician”s license. Fritz was proud of his work with the Alliance for Higher Education as Manager, Information Systems Technology. Fritz also has papers and records in the Smithsonian Institution in the Chip Collection and TI Transistor Objects. At St. Mary”s University, Fritz met Beverly Ann Teddlie. They married on August 8, 1964. After the birth of their first daughter, Margaret Ann, the family moved to Dallas, where Fritz was employed by Texas Instruments. Fritz took a position with Motorola, so the family lived for eighteen months in Phoenix, Arizona. Fritz rejoined Texas Instruments, where he remained until his retirement in 1998. Daughter Sally and son Christopher were born in the Dallas area. Fritz had many professional accomplishments. He retired as Corporate Standards Office while a member of the Senior Technical Staff at Texas Instruments. He was TI”s representative on the national standards committee (NCITS) which created the national and international specifications for the Joint Photographic Engineering Group (JPEG) and Motion Picture Engineering Group (MPEG); which established the file standards for the .JPG and .MPG files now used on the internet every day. He received two awards for his work with this committee. While working in defense systems, he lead a team which designed unmanned remote weapons systems and smart weapons. In the early days of personal computer development, Fritz had assignments in software and product design. He was a long-time member of the IEEE. Fritz also had many and varied personal interests. As a teenager he was active in the Knights of Columbus Squires, where he participated in numerous plays. He also played the violin and guitar. He loved classical music, especially Wagner. He was a Boy Scout while growing up; later he participated in Indian Guides with his daughter Margaret, and enjoyed camping trips with his son Christopher. Fritz was a prolific reader and frequent patron of the Richardson Public Library. He worked on automobiles for his daughter Sally. He did electrician work and framed houses for Habitat for Humanity, volunteering one full day a week to that organization for years. He was a member of the Sheriff”s Association of Texas. Fritz became active in politics and the Texas Tea Party movement. He was a senatorial delegate to the Texas state GOP convention in June 2010. Fritz was actively involved with the Episcopal Church of the Transfiguration in Dallas. He was a member of the Men”s Club, took photos of certain events, helped teach New Members classes, and even stuffed envelopes. He first began to work with Habitat for Humanity through the church. As a member of the Senior Technical Staff for Texas Instruments, Fritz traveled the four corners of the world.
