Fred J. Helmen

Mar 28, 1898 - Jan 30, 1990

SOUTH BEND - Fred J. Helmen, 91, of 136 Marquette Ave, died about 3:10 a.m. Tuesday at Healthwin Hospital. Mr. Helmen retired from the former St. Joseph Bank and Trust Co. as honorary chairman in 1982. A farmboy with no formal business training, he rose through the ranks to head South Bend's second largest bank and to be one of the community's most respected civic leaders. Mr. Helmen came to the bank as bookkeeper in 1920, after being turned down for a job by another South Bend bank.

He entered banking two years after graduation from the former South Bend Central High School after working on the family farm on Cleveland Road to help pay college tuition for his older brothers. "If I had gone to college, I'd have been a doctor," he said in an interview when he retired. His rise through the bank was accompanied by a direct role in community activities. Mr. Helmen's career spanned the Depression of the 1930s and downtown renewal in the 1960s.

In a 1982 interview, Helmen called his role at the bank "the first job I ever had and the only one." But he said he remained a country boy at heart, dividing his time in his final years between a daily visit with bank executives and regular customers at the bank's downtown office and chopping firewood at his farm. Mr. Helmen served 12-year stints as president of both the South Bend school board and the Redevelopment Commission. He played pivotal roles in expansion of the school system, overseeing construction of seven elementary and high schools, and in the shaping of modern downtown South Bend.

"I had a great deal to do with the demolition of downtown...I suppose there are those who point the finger at me," he said in the 1982 interview. Mr. Helmen, in that same interview, expressed an unfading faith in South Bend. "You know, I love this town - they say to me, 'Now you can travel' - to hell with travel, I love it here, I'm glad to be a part of it.".

When he retired, Mr. Helmen said modern business leaders lacked the imagination and foresight of their predecessors, such as Vincent Bendix, Associates founder E.M. Morris and former Studebaker president Albert R. Erskine.

Mr. Helmen's civic activities were many. He was one of the founders of Parkview Juvenile Center and a 40-year Boy Scout volunteer. He was on the executive committee of the Committee of 100, a toplevel business group that played a key role in helping South Bend rebound from the Studebaker Corp. closing in the early 1960s.

Mr. Helmen also was a longtime financial officer for the local Democratic Party. He was chairman of the mayor's mass transportation committee during the early 1960s, a board member for the Mental Health Clinic, legal affairs committee member with the Indiana Bankers Association, and two-term member and former president of the board of the Indiana Teachers Retirement Fund.

He was born March 28, 1898, in South Bend, and was a lifelong area resident. His wife, the former Mary Veronica Tobin, died Aug. 24, 1989.

He is survived by a son, Fred J. Jr. of South Bend; 10 grandchildren; seven great-grandchildren; and a sister, Erma Post of South Bend.

A daughter, Patricia Ann Simpson, died Aug. 30, 1985.

Services will be at 11 a.m. Friday in McGann Funeral Home, 2313 E. Edison Road. Burial will be at Highland Cemetery. Friends may call one-half hour before services in the funeral home.

Article from 31 Jan 1990 The South Bend Tribune (South Bend, IN)

Source: Newspapers.com

03/07/2026 EJS

https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/203657245/frederick-john-helmen