FRITSCHEL, Max E.

FRITSCHEL, Max E. (St. Sebald, IA, Feb. 21, 1868--Dubuque, IA, Jan. 1, 1940). The son of Dr. Sigmund, one of the founders of WARTBURG THEOLOGICAL SEMINARY, and Margareta Fritschel, Max Fritschel moved at the age of six with his parents to Mendota, Illinois. He attended the public schools and then Wartburg College and Wartburg Seminary which were located there. He began studying Latin at the age of five, Greek at the age of seven and completed a three year theological course at the age of eighteen.

Upon graduation, Fritschel taught in the Mendota public schools for one year before moving to Nebraska to begin missionary work among the pioneers. His popularity led many of those people to later send their sons and grandsons to study with him in Dubuque.

Fritschel attended theological college in Greenville, Pennsylvania and received his Bachelor of Arts in 1886, Master of Arts in 1889 and his degree of doctor of divinity in 1910. During this time he traveled to Europe in 1888 to study three years at Rostoc, Erlangen, and Leipzig universities.

In 1891 Fritschel returned to Dubuque to become as assistant professor at Wartburg. He received full professorship three years later and was elected president in 1906. It was during his presidency that the seminary moved out of the Emerson mansion into more modern facilities. He was a prominent force in the merger of the Lutheran Synods with the American Lutheran Church and contributed many writings to church publications. Professor Fritschel and his father served a total of ninety years at Wartburg Seminary.

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Source:

"Professor Fritschel Succumbs Here," Telegraph Herald, January 2, 1940, p. 1