Frederick Warren Teele 1869-1939

​Teele, a New Englander, from Massachusetts, became a Rotarian in his home town club of Newton.
He was an engineer working mostly with railway and tram transport in Boston and Mexico in the latter of which he became President of the Mexico City club.
For a time in 1922 and early 1923 he served as a Special Commissioner for Rotary in Central America and the Caribbean.

He was then appointed to a similar post but in Europe.
Teele was at once involved in organizing the first club in Italy in Milan in 1923.
He also presented both a Rotary flag and the Charter to the Amsterdam Club in March 1923, and visited Oslo the same month.
His official post gave Teele a roving commission to develop Rotary in Europe.
In October 1924, Teele’s wife died and he then threw himself even further into Rotary activities.
That year, he was concerned with the founding of the Zurich Club, the city where R.I. was to open an office with Teele himself appointed as Chief in 1925.
For this he received $5000 a year.

In 1926 he chaired the first meeting in Finland at Helsingfors-Helsinki in 1926 and assisted with the formation of the Stockholm Club the same year and also the Lisbon Club.

At the beginning of 1928, he resigned his post in Zurich to be replaced by the Danish Rotarian, T .C. Thomsen.

Teele then returned to Newton.
He died there in 1939.

Basil Lewis 30 August 2008