Carnegie Hero Andrew Joseph Frick died Tuesday, Aug. 27, 2024. He was 77.
Frick was born April 4, 1947, to Carl Leighton and Alice Bauer Frick in Louisville, Kentucky.
Frick was awarded the Carnegie Medal after he helped rescue a man from burning in Lawrence, Kansas, on April 21, 1970. An accident forced a tractor-trailer off the highway and onto grass-covered terrain, where the detached cab of the rig came to rest upright on the ground alongside the trailer. Escaping fuel caught fire and flames burned on the trailer and one side of the cab. Frick, then 23, ran to the other side of the cab where another man tried to open the door without success. Flames intensified as the two men managed to lower the window. Frick reached into the cab while the flames spread, grasped the man inside, and pulled him partially through the opening. The other man and Frick grabbed hold of the man to completely remove him from the cab. Within a minute later a fuel tank exploded and flames spread. The man in the truck and Frick sustained burns but recovered.
Frick graduated from Purdue University with a bachelor’s degree in a program of study combining engineering and management. He was the owner of a Carrier air conditioning business in Kansas City and later relocated to the metro New York City area where he started Frick & Frick, Inc. with his wife, Patricia Venditto Frick.
Frick is survived by his wife; daughter Daniela Mitu; three grandchildren, Nick, Angela, and Raysa; and others.