Speaking from Experience

For Better or for Worse...and finally for Lunch!
By Dick Fremgen ('60)

My wife, Bonnie, and I each had 30-plus-year careers before coming to teach at Notre Dame.Our careers were exciting, challenging and incredibly rewarding-and what we learned in our careers enriched our teaching here at Notre Dame.

Before coming to the College, Bonnie spent many years in health care administration - both as a hospital administrator and as a consultant to hospitals. After receiving her doctorate from the University of Illinois in Chicago, she taught management and ethics at both the University of Detroit/Mercy and St. Xavier University, where she also served as the interim dean of the business school. I spent 34 years with Deloitte & Touche LLP, most of the time in Chicago, where I was the managing partner for six years. Coming to the College of Business in 1996, Bonnie taught a variety of courses in the Management Department for two years, and spent the last three years teaching ethics and serving as Co-Director of the Center for Ethics and Religious Values in Business. I taught several different undergraduate accounting courses and a financial reporting course in the MBA program.

We are retiring at the end of this academic year. I'd like to take a moment to thank the teaching and staff colleagues in the College that have helped us tremendously, both professionally and personally. And there is no greater group of students - both undergraduate and graduate - than those here at Notre Dame. A very special student group to us are those who participated in the MBA/MS Accountancy Retreat (see page 11) with us, many of whom remain friends.

There are other things Bonnie and I will remember fondly - like daily Mass in the College Chapel, Vespers in the Basilica, walks around the lakes, bike rides to St. Mary's and the many cultural events that come to campus.

And, after trying to get Bonnie interested in routing for Notre Dame's sports teams for many years, I found it to be easy once she was here on campus. Having many of the athletes in class and getting to know them as people, has made Bonnie a real fan. Of course, it didn't hurt that the women's basketball team won the national championship.

It sounds like we only had fun. Well, we did have fun. But, we also had the opportunity to work together - teaching ethics and developing programs for and with the students.

Oh yes, and after 41 years of marriage - for better or for worse but not for lunch - we also had a chance to have many lunches together.

The experiences of the last five years here at the Mendoza College of Business will be invaluable to us for the rest of our lives. Thank you all for a great five years.