He will be greatly missed by his associates from the many countries involved in this work who, without exception, regarded him a good and trusted friend.

Fritz graduated from Berlin's Technical University as a naval architect/marine engineer in the late '50's. After working in the shipbuilding industry where he designed early freefall lifeboats and self-steering gear for tall ships, he set up his own office designing small craft.

Always aware of the potential benefits of cooperation between countries and particularly of a single set of internationally accepted standards for the industry, he became involved with ICOMIA in 1971 becoming its technical consultant and then secretary to its technical committee.

In 1985, through ICOMIA, he was present at the inaugural meeting of the ISO Small Craft Committee, where he took on the task of acting as both secretary and chairman of several of the sub-committees undertaking the development of the planned standards.

In the early '90's as ICOMIA's technical consultant, he became heavily involved with the EU Commission dealing with the then proposed Recreational Craft Directive (RCD) and was to remain involved in almost every aspect of it from that time on.

The industry will remain in his debt for many years, and also to his wife Christiane and their two sons.