Manfred Gustav Appel

Manfred (Fred) Appel passed away peacefully surrounded by his family on August 19, 2021 at Crittenton Hospital in Rochester, Michigan. Fred was born on November 23, 1942 during a WWII bombing raid in Berlin, Germany to his parents Gerhard (Gert) and Edith (Deet) Appel. Growing up in post-WWII Germany was very hard. Fred and his parents escaped Berlin via Checkpoint Charlie in the middle of a potato truck. From there they went to Austria and Yugoslavia before ultimately immigrating to Canada. Fred proudly became a United States Citizen in 1985.

Fred was active in many sports and swam for Albion College. He took up skiing and while on a ski trip to Boyne Mountain in 1967, he met Madeline (Lynn) Appel on the ski run “Idiot’s Delight”. A little of over a year later they were married at the Lutheran Church of the Redeemer in Birmingham, Michigan on April 20, 1968 and lived in Windsor, Canada. In 1969, they moved to the US to start their family going on to have two children (Greg and Cheryl) making their family complete. During January 1982, the Appel family moved to their current home in Rochester Hills, Michigan.

Fred worked in Data Processing (now IT) working for Chrysler Canada, NBD Bank in Detroit, Chrysler US, Kmart Corporation, and ultimately retired from DaimlerChrysler in 2000. During retirement, Fred taught at the University of Phoenix as well as Oakland University on Information Technology and later drove prototype (camouflaged) Chrysler vehicles giving him the excitement of driving cars and providing feedback long before their public unveilings.

Fred loved spending time with Lynn as well as his children and 4 grandchildren. He continued to enjoy skiing, boating (their Sea Ray boat “Maverick”), spending time in northern Michigan and with his family at home. Everywhere Fred went he loved to be the “life of the party”, making friends easily – often making a lasting impact from his sincerity, graciousness, sense of humor and his laugh/smile. Fred was proud of everything his kids and grandkids did, always making time to attend their events and never showed anything less than a smile and his want for “huggers and kissers” from his grandkids. Some of his favorite things were spending time in "their" downtown Rochester, the duck pond, a recent trip to Germany, serving on the Bluegreen/Boyne board and family traditions such as: Lagniappe, cutting down the Christmas Tree, Christmas duck dinner and mornings with family, lunches with the guys, Chrysler cars, and alone time with his wife and best friend finding sunshine on a cloudy day.

In 2018, Fred was diagnosed with Lung Cancer. He was brave and never once complained about the treatments that shrunk or reduced the cancer - but slowly took more and more out of him. On July 29th, he suffered a minor stroke that impacted his ability to speak clearly and eat effectively. Each day he fought to get home to his deck and have a Black Russian drink (his favorite). His fight never waned, but his body was too tired to fight the pneumonia that ultimately and suddenly took him from us. We know without a doubt Fred wanted to stay here and be with us, that just was not possible anymore. He passed peacefully with Lynn, Greg and Cheryl by his side – his struggle was finally over and he is at peace. He showed us the way to live, and now he has a great new adventure to take on!

Fred is survived by his wife of 53 years, Lynn, and his children, Greg (Andrea) and Cheryl (David). He is also survived by his grandchildren, Allison, Noelle, Natalie and Grant. We know we gained an angel to watch over us - but will sorely miss him every day. We see him sitting on his deck or on his boat, drinking his Black Russians, and smiling as he watches over us.

Visitation will be held on Saturday, August 28, from 11-1pm with a Memorial Service at 1 pm at Pixley Funeral Home located at 322 W University Dr, Rochester, Michigan 48307 . Interment will follow at White Chapel Memorial Cemetery in Troy.