I was born in Plainfield New Jersey on July 10, 1932. My father was Ferdinand Earl Mueller and my mother was Bernice Yeager Mueller. Unfortunately, my father died when I was two years old and I never really got a chance to know him. Actually, to my great disappointment I scarcely have any recollection of him.
Four years after my father’s death my mother met and married John Rutter Derr and it wasn’t until I was 16 years old that I realized that John Derr was not my biological father. This all came to light when I asked for my birth certificate in order to get a driver’s license. I was somewhat stunned to receive a birth certificate that was presumably mine with the name “Ferdinand Earl Mueller, Jr.”. I then learned that I had been adopted by John Derr. I had been known in grammar school and high school as Frederick John Derr. My friends all called me “Freddy”. I eventually adopted Mueller as my middle name in honor of my paternal Father.
In 1940 Dad (John Derr) moved the family to Fort Lauderdale Florida where he went to work for the Broward Bank and Trust Company. I grew up in Fort Lauderdale and graduated from high school in June of 1950. At that time Dad was offered a job at the Palmer Bank in Sarasota. The entire family moved from Fort Lauderdale to Sarasota in the summer of 1950.
By this time our family consisted of Dad and Mom, me, sister Jane, John, Wayne, and Lucy. I had one other brother that was born in Fort Lauderdale by the name of Gary who died when he was two years old. Brother Steve was born in Sarasota, the youngest sibling in the Derr clan.
Moving to Sarasota in the summer of 1950 I had the opportunity to learn one of my first lessons in how the world really works. After spending considerable time and effort in trying to find a job I complained one evening to Dad about my lack of success and he suggested that I make an appointment to visit with his boss Mr. Benton Powell, then the President of the Palmer Bank and Trust Company to ask for his help in finding a job. Much to my astonishment, during the course of my interview with Mr. Powell he picked up the phone and called the superintendent of Powell Brothers Construction Company and asked if they might have a position open for a young person who just graduated from high school. I reported for work the next day at the Florida Power and Light plant that Powell Brothers was building on the Sarasota Bay front at 10th Street and was assigned to the paint crew at the rate of $.75 per hour. From this I learned at an early age that it is not so much what you know, but who you know.
I worked on this project until it was completed about six months later and then found a job at the Lido Beach Hotel where I worked as a bellman and a lifeguard. I then had an opportunity to work for John Carr (Bob Carr’s father) who was the manager of the John Ringling Hotel. I was there for one season as a bellman and subsequently ended up at the Plaza Restaurant which was the finest restaurant in Sarasota. As a bus boy, I had the opportunity to meet and wait on such notables as Jim Haley, John D MacDonald, Syd Solomon and McKinley Kantor. It was my job to serve these gentlemen in the backroom while they were playing poker after lunch. By this time, I realized I should think seriously about what I was going to do with my life. I decided that I wanted to attend the United States Naval Academy. After considerable research at the library I realized that appointments were normally obtained through your local congressman and/or your US Senator. At the time Chester B. McMullen was our congressman. The two Senators were George Smathers and Spessard Holland. I wrote letters to all requesting an appointment. I never received a response from anyone. I lamented that fact to my mom and she suggested an introduction to her boss, Mr. Eldridge Boyd, developer of several major properties on Siesta Key such as the Sanderling Club and Fiddler Bayou. Mom said that Mr. Boyd had a high profile in our community and probably was known to both the Congressman and the Senators. As it turned out, she was correct. In the process of meeting Eldridge Boyd I learned my first lesson in politics. During the course of my interview with Mr. Boyd, he picked up the phone and called Congressman McMullen and gave me a strong recommendation for an appointment to the Naval Academy. The Congressman had one appointment in the coming year and was going to give a competitive examination for that one appointment and said I was welcome to sit for that exam. So, with one phone call, Mr. Boyd accomplished what I couldn’t seem to do on my own. Mr. Boyd had no doubt contributed to Congressman McMullen’s election campaigns — another great lesson for me.
I went to Washington DC and took the Congressman’s competitive examination for the one appointment. I found out that there were approximately 200 applicants for that one appointment. I felt that those were not very good odds. So, for plan B, I contacted the Navy recruiter in downtown Sarasota and learned that enlisted personnel could obtain appointments to the Naval Academy if recommended by their commanding officer. At the time, that sounded like better odds for accomplishing my goal.
However, I found there was a new challenge. When I told the Navy recruiter I would like to sign up he said, “I currently don’t have a quota and you will just have to wait until I do have one.” This took a lot of wind out of my sails and I’m sure he noticed the hugely disappointed look on my face. After a pause he looked at me and said, “What do you know about electronics?” and I replied, “Not much; however, I received straight A’s in physics and chemistry in high school.” He then said, “Well, I have an exam here and if you can pass it, I can enlist you as an Electronics Technician Seaman Recruit (ETSR).” I passed the exam and in December of 1952 I found myself aboard a train with my friend Carl Sweeting on the way to Navy Boot Camp in San Diego California.
Boot camp was 12 weeks long and during mail call of the sixth or seventh week I received a telegram from Congressman James Haley announcing that I had received his congressional appointment to the United States Naval Academy. I was dumbfounded. In the time I had been gone from Sarasota, Chester McMullen had died in office and Jim Haley was appointed by the governor to finish out his term. I then remembered that Jim Haley was one of the regulars at the Plaza Restaurant while I was working there, and at the time, he was working for Ringling Bros. and Barnum & Bailey Circus. To this day, I don’t know for sure how well I did on the competitive examination, but I suspect that Mr. Haley remembered me from the Plaza, and I’m sure that along with a decent exam score, this was helpful in my being selected for the appointment.
After completing Navy Boot Camp in San Diego California, I was placed in a Special Services Division until I was transferred to the Naval Academy in Annapolis in June 1953.
June, thru August 1953 was my plebe summer and I had the good fortune of being roommates with Larry Bustle, from Bradenton. Plebe year then started in September and there were times during that year that I wondered if I had made the right decision. Plebe year was rough, because hazing was common practice then and to top that off I had the misfortune of being assigned to the 10th company which had the worst reputation for hazing plebes. It was so bad in fact that when I visited another company or battalion area, when asked to sound off and say which company I belonged to, as soon as I said, “10th company!” the upperclassman would say, “You poor bastard…. Carry-on!”
As it turned out, Larry Bustle and I were forced to part company at the beginning of the academic year because he was assigned to the 8th company and I was assigned to the 10th company. But the good news was, my new roommate was from Baltimore and was an ex-enlisted man by the name of Orrie Hiett. Talk about serendipity! Orrie and I remained roommates for the next four years and we became lifelong best friends. I married Carol Membert on graduation day from the US Naval Academy on June 7, 1957. From this marriage I was blessed to have three daughters. Elizabeth, the oldest born in New Orleans, Katherine came next and was born in Morocco and finally Charlotte was born in Sarasota. Carol and I were divorced in 1987.
Upon graduation, I was commissioned in the U.S. Navy Civil Engineer Corps and after a short nine months tour of duty at the Naval training Center in Bainbridge Maryland I was ordered to Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute in Troy New York where I earned a Bachelor of Civil Engineering degree in June 1959.
After that, my active duty career consisted of the following tours of duty: Bangkok Thailand Southeast Asia 1959-1961; US Naval Propellant Plant, Indian head Maryland 1961-1963; Tulane University, New Orleans Louisiana, Masters Degree in CE 1963-1964; Naval Communication Station, Sidi Yahia, Morocco 1964-1966; US Naval Supply Center Bayonne New Jersey 1966-1967.
In October 1967 with the rank of Lieutenant Commander I resigned my regular commission and accepted a commission in the Naval Reserve. I then returned home to Sarasota with the thought of working as a consulting engineer because, by then, I was a licensed professional engineer in New York, Louisiana and Florida and had three engineering degrees.
Upon my return to Sarasota, I began interviewing with local engineering firms and discovered that we were in an economic downturn and none of the engineering firms were in a position to hire me. I subsequently arranged for an interview with Wendel Kent who had founded a highway construction firm in 1961. So by the end of October 1967, I began work at Wendel Kent and Company as an estimator. I always had in the back of my mind that I could, at some point in the future, go to work as a consulting engineer when the economy improved and I would probably be a better engineer because of my practical field experience with Wendel Kent and Company.
As time went on I realized that I preferred the construction business and decided that I would stick with it. And as they say “the rest is history.” I thoroughly enjoyed knowing and working for Wendel, who became a wonderful mentor. In 1986 I had the good fortune to become the majority owner of Wendel Kent and Company while at the same time becoming a minority owner of Gator Asphalt Company and Quality Aggregates (a mining operation). I changed the name to Frederick Derr and Company in 1991.
In 1988 I had the good fortune to marry Terri Elbare Shaw, thanks to my Brother Wayne who exceeded all my expectations for brotherly good deeds by introducing us on a blind date. As it turned out, I had met Terri many years before because we were both marathon runners and had seen each other from time to time at various local running events. My mother, who was a well-known realtor- particularly on Siesta Key, was thrilled to have Terri, also a realtor, join the family.
One other lesson that I learned along the way, was not only the importance of being involved in the community, but that it is very worthwhile to support community projects financially as well. As a result, over the years, I’ve been involved in such organizations as Mote Marine Laboratory (Chairman Emeritus), the Argus Foundation (Executive Committee), The Asphalt Contractors Association of Florida and (President), Citizens for a Better Sarasota (Treasurer), Citizens for Better Schools (Co-Founder), Rotary Club of Sarasota, La Musica International Chamber Music Festival (President), Florida Engineering Society, Sarasota Military Academy (Treasurer), and the Seabee Memorial Scholarship Fund.