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Former
assemblyman dies
CHIEI: A funny man with
serious convictions.
By Don Hunter
Anchorage Daily News
(Published: March 29, 2002)
Fred Chiei Jr., a former
Anchorage assemblyman and once one of the city's most visible and voluble
conservatives, died Wednesday night. He was 83.
A telecommunications
executive, Chiei came to Alaska months after statehood as RCA Alascom's project
manager for the White Alice communications system. Later, he helped write
Anchorage's municipal charter before being elected in 1975 to the first of
three terms on the Assembly.
He and wife, Marjorie,
quickly moved into the city's civic and social swirl after arriving here from
New Jersey in 1960. Over the years, Chiei served as president of the Anchorage
Chamber of Commerce, as a director of the Anchorage Symphony Association, as
national director of the U.S. Navy League -- he was a lieutenant commander in
World War II -- and as deputy regional administrator for the Federal Energy
Administration.
"He enjoyed people,
and he loved public life," Marjorie Chiei said Thursday.
The couple met at a dance
while Chiei was in the Navy and stationed in Rhode Island. They married on
Thanksgiving.
"He always said, I
ate one turkey and kept one,' " Marjorie said with a laugh.
Chiei was politically
conservative -- he tried unsuccessfully to introduce a city ordinance that
would have made it more difficult for women to get abortions here -- but
delivered liberal doses of wit, often barbed. He once concluded a lengthy
written biography of his accomplishments with the brief observation: "Mr.
Chiei's hobbies are drinking and watching girls in cocktail lounges."
"He had the most
acerbic wit of anybody I ever knew," said Ben Marsh, a former Assembly
colleague.
Former Mayor Rick Mystrom
recalled the technologically handy Chiei coming in early before a liberal
colleague's last Assembly meeting and switching the wiring on the group's
electronic vote tallying machine so that the outgoing member's No' votes would
appear as Yes,' and vice versa.
"Nobody loved a good
laugh as much as Fred," Mystrom said. "But that's not to say he
didn't take his role seriously. He made sure money was spent carefully and that
taxpayers got what they paid for."
Chiei suffered from lung
cancer and recently had developed pneumonia as well, according to his wife and
nephew Chris Chiei. He was in Providence Alaska Medical Center when he died.
Survivors include Marjorie, Chris, and brothers Leone of East Windsor, N.J.,
and Dante of San Antonio.
His remains will be
cremated, and his ashes spread over the Chugach Range. At his request, there
will be no memorial service.
Chris Chiei said his
uncle was in good spirits until the end. He said he asked Fred why he didn't
want a service after his death.
"He said, I've been
to enough funerals in my life; I'm hoping this is one I can skip.' "