Robert Froehlke

Froehlke, a Neenah native who grew up in Marshfield, was nominated to be Secretary of the Army in 1971 by his boyhood friend and former Congressman Melvin Laird, who was Secretary of Defense at the time. When Laird became part of President Richard Nixon’s Cabinet in 1969, he named Froehlke to his team, with Froehlke rising in the department to become Secretary of the Army two years later. Following his resignation as Secretary of the Army in 1973, Froehlke went back to the insurance industry, first heading several insurance organizations before becoming chairman of the board of the Equitable Life Assurance Society in 1982, then CEO of mutual funds at IDS in 1987, retiring in 1992 at age 70. Froehlke is survived by his wife, Nancy, four children, four grandchildren and four great-grandchildren.