Frederick A. Luecker, 81, a longtime employee at Illinois Bell Telephone Co., died Sunday, March 26, of heart failure in the Presbyterian Home in Evanston. A native of Milwaukee, Mr. Luecker moved to Evanston with his family in 1922. Mr. Luecker worked for a year after graduating from Evanston Township High School in 1937 and then spent two years at Miami University in Oxford, Ohio, before dropping out for financial reasons during the Depression. While he was employed as cable splicer for Illinois Bell, Mr. Luecker continued with his education by taking night classes at the Illinois Institute of Technology. He served as a weather officer in the U.S. Army during World War II. Mr. Luecker was able to go back to Miami University to complete his degree in mathematics in 1945. Mr. Luecker was motivated to get a college degree to follow in his older brother’s footsteps, said Mr. Luecker’s daughter, Elizabeth Van Slyke.. Between 1952 and 1954, Mr. Luecker worked in Burlington, N.C., for the Western Electric Defense Projects, then a division of AT&T. He met and married his wife, Margaret, before moving back to Evanston in 1954. Mr. Luecker retired as a division manager with Illinois Bell in 1981. In 1951, he was named one of 10 outstanding members of the Chicago chapter of Junior Chamber of Commerce. Mr. Luecker was also the chairman of the Evanston Human Relations Commission in the 1960s and served as a board member for Norwegian American Hospital for 17 years. After his retirement, he was a volunteer for the Executive Service Corps of Chicago. He was also a deacon, trustee and elder for the Northminster Presbyterian Church in Evanston. Other survivors include a son, Charles; a brother, John; and three grandchildren. Services will be at 2 p.m. Saturday in Northminster Presbyterian Church, 2515 Central Park Ave., Evanston.
