Giant Bicycle employees and dealers are mourning the death of Fred Teeman, who died March 9 of cancer at age 67. Teeman worked for Giant for 19 years before retiring in 2007. Prior to joining Giant he worked for Schwinn.
Teeman joined Giant as general manager of its central warehouse in 1988, remembered Giant account executive Larry Lewallen.
"He was well known for his work at Schwinn where he wrote articles in the Schwinn Reporter about ways to improve customer service," Lewallen said. "He was always thinking of the customer first and how to better serve them. He was also a very successful product manager for Schwinn. I always looked up to him as a class act and he was a real asset at trade shows. He made every dealer feel welcome and know that they were very important to our success.”
Giant's corporate communications manager, Patrick Van Horn, sat next to Teeman during his first 2 1/2 years with the company.
"I was fortunate to be able to turn to him for advice and help every day," Van Horn said. "From the moment I started here, Fred emphasized to me that my job was helping our retailers be successful. In addition to being my boss, he was a good friend — we had time to talk about things other than work. In addition to riding his bike, he loved to fish and hunt."
Teeman once shared a photo of a trophy fish he had caught; when he retired, Giant employees had the photo turned into a special cake for the party.
Teeman is survived by his wife, Pam, his daughter, Kristen Sauber and by his grandchildren, Nathan and Morgan. He is also survived by his twin brother, Jim Teeman and his sister, Kathy Poulos and by many nieces and nephews. A memorial is being held Wednesday in Illinois.
