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Frederick “Fritz” Kass

Chocks away!

Kathy Kahn

Oct-28-07, 07:00 PM

1 Vote

Topics: Aviation

Fritz Kass has worn many hats during his lifetime, but today, he’s got on one of his favorites: the baseball cap he wore during the Stewart Air Shows. While those shows no longer go on, Kass is an avowed aviation addict.

He was among the crowd at the Stewart International Airport Commission’s final meeting with National Express Group Oct. 16, saying goodbye to another era in the airport’s history and welcoming a new chapter, as the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey readies to take over management of Archie Stewart’s field of dreams Oct. 31.

Kass was instrumental in getting the original Stewart Air Show off the ground. That was back in the day when the Navy Vietnam veteran was running Lafayette Stores, a forerunner to today’s Radio Shack. His 12 Hudson Valley stores catered to the TV and radio trade, says Katz, who claims among his many customers Allan Gerry, who was just starting out in the cable TV business. (Today, billionaire Gerry no longer tinkers with cable. His cable industry eventually brought him fame and fortune, and Forbes ranks him on its list of the 500 richest people in America; these days, Gerry is busy with his new venture, Bethel Woods Center for the Arts in Liberty.)

While Kass sold off the electronics supply business, he held onto his real estate holdings and built up the New Windsor Mall on Route 32. But he stayed involved in the radio medium through college radio broadcasting “for what seems like forever,” laughs Kass. He’s an active member of Intercollegiate Broadcasting System (IBS), acting as its chief operating officer. IBS boasts a membership of 1,000 college ratio stations nationwide. “I guess radio is in my blood … I’ve been involved since I was a freshman at Lehigh University back in 1961,” says the man of many hats. The Web site is www.collegeradio.tv.

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