Fred Sandow

Fred Sandow, age 77, of Grants Pass, Oregon, passed away peacefully on November 29, 2022, at his home.

The oldest of three siblings, he was born in San Francisco on July 31, 1945 to Elton and Dorothea. He was raised and spent most of his adult life in California. Fred attended La Sierra College in Riverside, CA where he met Sharon and they married in 1965. After college, he worked as a banker primarily as a commercial loan officer with a focus on small business loans for 45 years. For several years in the early 1980’s, he put his banking career on hold to be a self-employed general contractor. He soon got back into banking and had a successful career serving Modesto and the central valley ending his career in 2010 as a senior vice president.

He was dedicated to his family and loved spending time outdoors hiking, camping, horseback riding, biking and kayaking. He also loved travel adventures, multi-day horse packing trips, building things in his workshop, and making home videos. After retiring, Fred and Sharon spent seven years traveling full time around the United States and Canada in their motorhome prior to moving to Grants Pass. He relished meeting new friends and experiencing new sights, often making videos of the places they visited.

Giving back to the community was something he found very rewarding. When he lived in Modesto, CA, he was the president of Modesto North Rotary and was involved in numerous community improvement projects. He was also the president of the board of directors for the Parent Resource Center, a non-profit organization for educating and supporting young parents to help prevent child abuse and neglect. In addition to being their president for several years, he led many of their site improvement projects. When Fred and Sharon moved to Grants Pass in 2019, they soon came to volunteer with the Caveman Kiwanis and he was named rookie of the year 2021-2022.

He is survived by his wife of 57 years, Sharon, his sons, Fred Jr, Patrick, daughter-in-law Katherine, two grandchildren Veronica and Christopher, his brother Dean and sister Elta Mae.

He was a beloved husband, father, grandfather and friend. If anyone would like to honor his legacy of caring, donations can be made to Kiwanis Doernbecher Children’s Cancer Program. https://kiwanisdoernbecher.org/

A public viewing will be held on Friday, December 9 from 1:00 to 3:00 pm at Hull and Hull Funeral Directors located at 612 NW A Street, Grants Pass, Or.