Frederick K. Fitch; Retired Plant Manager

Frederick K. Fitch, a retired plant manager for a cleaning product company and an 11-year Camarillo resident, died Monday after a lengthy illness. He was 83.

Born in 1913 in Logan, W. Va., Fitch graduated from high school in Carthage, Ind., before attending a business college.

In 1940, Fitch married Mary E. “Betty” Hughes in Indianapolis. Fitch was drafted into the U.S. Army during World War II, serving in Africa and Italy.

For most of his career, Fitch worked as a plant manager for J. I. Holcomb, a cleaning product manufacturer, which later merged with Premier Industries Corp. The work took Fitch and his family to such cities as Los Angeles and Fort Worth, Texas.

“He was ambitious, but only to the extent that it would help his family,” said Fitch’s son, Philip “Flip” Fitch, 35, of Simi Valley. “If an opportunity that presented itself was good for his career but took away from being with his family, he would turn it down.”

Retiring in 1978, Fitch lived in various cities in the West, including Tucson, Ariz., and Santa Ana, where he and his wife managed an apartment complex.

Fitch and his wife settled at Camarillo Springs in 1985.

“He enjoyed putting up bird feeders and feeding the wildlife that came up around his house,” his son said.

Philip Fitch remembered his father as a quiet but loving man with a dry sense of humor.

“He was always there,” his son recalled. “He was the foundation of our family.”

In addition to his wife and son, Fitch is survived by two daughters, Pamela Dunlap of Thousand Oaks and Lynnette Chandler of Camarillo; two sisters, Phyllis Erickson of Lexington, Ky., and Evelyn MacIntosh of Naples, Fla., and six grandchildren and great-grandchildren.

A memorial service will be held at 1 p.m. Saturday at Conejo Mountain Memorial Park Chapel in Camarillo.

In lieu of flowers, the family asks that donations be made in Fitch’s memory to the Make A Wish Foundation of the Tri Counties, 4141 State St., Santa Barbara 93105.