Frederick Pendleton Lyte, adoring husband, father, grandfather, friend, and much loved business and community leader, passed away peacefully while surrounded by family on October 5, 2016. Fred was born in Dallas, Texas on February 3, 1928. He moved to San Marino with his parents, Norma and William Lyte, in 1940. He graduated from South Pasadena High School and received his BA in economics and MBA from Stanford, where he was a member of Kappa Sigma fraternity. He met and married classmate Marjorie Swingley, the love of his life and wife of 63 years, who predeceased him in 2014.

After graduation, he and Marjorie returned to San Marino to raise their three children, Bill, Susan, and Diana. Since 1971, Fred served as Chairman and President of Lyte Enterprises Inc., an economic development consulting and venture capital business in Pasadena, serving both public and private sector clients. With Lyte Enterprises, he brought hundreds of millions of dollars to Southern California municipalities in commercial real estate projects. In particular, he worked with the City of Irwindale to build a brewery for the Miller Brewing Company. He was also the driving force behind the $115 million deal in 1987 to bring the then-LA Raiders to Irwindale. Under his guidance, the City entered into an agreement with the NFL team to build a new stadium there. The city later declined to pursue the deal. Prior to that, Fred served as Vice President and General Manager for Retlaw Enterprises, the personal holding company of the Walt Disney Family. He managed a 7,000 acre real estate/hotel development in the Bahamas. He also served as a consultant and analyst for SRI, the Stanford Research Institute, as well as Booz, Allen & Hamilton.

Fred was also supportive of his community. He served on the Board of Councilors of the University of Southern California Medical School and was a former Board Chairman of the St. Luke Hospital Foundation. Together, Fred and Marjorie enjoyed traveling the world. All in all, Fred visited over 70 countries during his lifetime. He knew world geography inside and out, and was virtually unbeatable at Trivial Pursuit and poker. Fred's humor, boundless optimism, and tremendous generosity will be missed by his devoted daughters and their husbands, Susan and Gordon King and D.D. and Bruce Holcomb. He was loved and respected by his son, William Lyte, who predeceased him in 2015. He was dedicated to his seven grandchildren who loved his 'Bebop'/'Grandpa' bear hugs, unshakeable good disposition and (mostly) good puns.

Pasadena Star-News, October 16, 2016