Frederick M. Littell, 94, who formerly owned a machinery manufacturing plant in Ravenswood, died Monday, Jan. 1, of heart failure in Presbyterian Home in Evanston. Mr. Littell lived on Chicago’s North Side most of his life. His father, F.J. Littell, founded Littell Machine Co. in the basement of his Ravenswood home in 1918. He started working with his father at the age of 12, said his son Edmund R. In 1948, Mr. Littell and his two brothers took up their father’s business, which manufactured automatic feeds and straighteners for stamping presses. The business grew from 25 employees to 450 employees by around 1980, when it was sold. Mr. Littell a received a master’s degree in mechanical engineering from the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign. He worked in nearly all aspects of the family business. “He was an engineer, designer, a salesman. In the early years he was a machinist,” his son said, adding that his father held more than 30 patents in the industry. Mr. Littell had served on the board of directors of the former Bank of Ravenswood, Ravenswood Hospital and the Ravenswood YMCA. Besides his son, Mr. Littell also is survived by another son, Frederick A.; a daughter, Flo Kelly; two brothers, Howard and William; a sister, Florence Tatum; and six grandchildren. Visitation will be from 2 to 9 p.m. Friday in Drake & Son Funeral Home, 5303 N. Western Ave, Chicago. Services will be held at 10 a.m. Saturday in the funeral home.
