Fred Shaefer

Fred Shaefer served as BOMA Atlanta’s Executive Secretary from the founding of the association in 1913 to 1948. According to the January 12, 1949, BOMA Atlanta Executive Committee meeting minutes, “Fred Moore made a motion to elect Fred Shaefer to Life Membership in the Atlanta Association of Building Owners and Managers and to invite him to attend all meetings as a guest of the Association. Motion was seconded and was immediately passed unanimously.”

Fred Shaefer was instrumental in creating the infrastructure of BOMA Atlanta. Maintaining effective and timely communication among BOMA members was one of his top priorities. As a result, he wrote and distributed the association’s first newsletter. In the August 1940 newsletter, he wrote, “Atlanta continues in the eyes of the business world as the ideal location to reach the south’s territory. In the heart of the south, with unexcelled climate conditions, 15 trunk line railroads reaching out into all sections, and the best of office building accommodations are attractions that’s winning new firms from every section of the nation.” This quote also highlights the interconnectedness between BOMA Atlanta and the economic development of the metropolitan Atlanta region.  

During the February 25-26, 1946 BOMA Southern Conference, held in Jackson, Mississippi, Fred was presented with life membership in the conference. The inscription on his life membership sterling card, read, “For Extraordinary Service to the Southern Conference of Building Owners and Managers, Fred Shaefer is Elected a Life Member.” Fred was instrumental in organizing the Southern Conference in 1922 and consistently maintained active involvement in it since then.  

Fred was further recognized by the BOMA Southern Conference three years later. During the twenty-seventh annual Southern Conference of Building Owners and Managers, held March 13-15, 1949 at the Biltmore Hotel in Atlanta, the Monday, March 14 Banquet was named “Fred Shaefer Night” in his honor.  

When Fred retired as BOMA Atlanta Executive Secretary at the end of 1948, it was written in the December 5, 1948 issue of The Atlanta Constitution, “He has worked very closely with this, the largest taxpaying industry in our State, and has rendered the service of his office in many civic undertakings, in addition to working closely with the National Association of Building Owners and Managers in which he made a host of friends throughout the country for himself as well as Atlanta. Mr. Shaefer has seen the office building industry grow steadily from a very humble beginning to its present membership of forty-odd office buildings. As a matter of fact, Atlanta has more office space per capita than any city in the country, New York’s and Chicago’s giant skyscrapers notwithstanding. The membership and hundreds of other friends throughout the country join in wishing Fred Shaefer all the pleasures and comforts that reward a man’s retirement from a job well done.” 

After his retirement, Fred was recognized again by BOMA Atlanta during the May 11, 1949 BOMA Atlanta annual dinner meeting at the Capital City Club, as reported in the May 15, 1949 issue of The Atlanta Constitution. During the meeting, BOMA Atlanta President William C. Clonts honored Fred by saying, “Our most important task, of course, was occasioned by the loss of the services of perhaps the association’s best friend, faithful Fred Shaefer. Much to the credit of this group, satisfactory retirement provisions were made and an excellent replacement has been provided. It is indeed encouraging that we still have the presence and counsel of Fred, whose help and confidence we cherish very highly.”   

Fred also served as a member of the College Park, Georgia City Council. He died in October 1954.