He spent years apologizing for an incident in the Nixon White House, in which he helped reassign Jewish government officials.
By Harrison Smith Harrison Smith Obituary writer Email Bio Follow March 26 at 7:16 PM Fred Malek, a Washington-area business executive who led Marriott Hotels and Northwest Airlines, raised millions for the Republican Party and advised four presidents during a career that was shadowed by his role in President Richard M. Nixon’s crusade against a “Jewish cabal” in the government, died March 24. He was 82.
Mr. Malek was working as White House personnel chief when, in 1971, Nixon became angered by a news report in which the bureau attributed a drop in the unemployment rate to a statistical fluke. He called Nixon’s fear of a treacherous “Jewish cabal” “ridiculous” and “nonsense,” and said he refused four times to make the count before he finally gave in at the insistence of the president. Nevertheless, he resigned from his position as the Republican Party’s deputy chairman.
Mr. Malek later spearheaded a bid to acquire the Washington Nationals from Major League Baseball, which had purchased the Montreal Expos in 2002 and moved the franchise to the District. Mr. Malek’s investment group was edged out in 2006 by a rival team led by real estate developer Ted Lerner. He had by then firmly established himself as a force in Republican politics, having served in the administrations of presidents Nixon, Gerald R. Ford, Ronald Reagan and George H.W. Bush, and worked on the campaigns of almost every GOP presidential candidate of the past 40 years.
In a statement, David Rexrode, the association’s executive director, said that Mr. Malek helped elect 84 Republican governors while serving as finance chairman and raised $312 million through the Executive Roundtable in the past 10 years.Frederic Vincent Malek was born in the Chicago suburb of Berwyn, Ill., on Dec. 22, 1936. His grandparents were immigrants from Czechoslovakia and Yugoslavia, according to a Richard Nixon Presidential Library and Museum biography.
Australia Latest News, Australia Headlines
Similar News:You can also read news stories similar to this one that we have collected from other news sources.
GOP fundraiser Fred Malek is dead at 82Fred Malek, the former president of the Marriott hotel chain and one of the Republican Party's most influential fundraisers, has died, his office confirmed
Read more »
Conservative fundraiser Fred Malek diesFred Malek, a conservative fundraiser and former president of Marriott Hotels and Northwest Airlines who also served in two presidential administrations, has died, the American Action Network announced on Monday.
Read more »
Global growth is 'unlikely' if China trade and Brexit are not resolved, FedEx CEO saysJim Cramer chats with FedEx CEO Fred Smith about the company's reduction in growth expectations as U.S.-China trade and Brexit linger.
Read more »
GOP fundraiser Fred Malek is dead at 82Fred Malek, the former president of the Marriott hotel chain and one of the Republican Party's most influential fundraisers, has died, his office confirmed
Read more »
Conservative fundraiser Fred Malek diesFred Malek, a conservative fundraiser and former president of Marriott Hotels and Northwest Airlines who also served in two presidential administrations, has died, the American Action Network announced on Monday.
Read more »
Former Trump Adviser Says He Didn’t Lie to FBIGeorge Papadopoulos, the former Trump campaign adviser who helped trigger what became the Mueller investigation, says in a new book he didn’t lie to investigators, contradicting what he told a federal judge under oath.
Read more »
Trump will nominate former campaign adviser Stephen Moore to Federal ReservePresident Trump says he will nominate Stephen Moore, his former campaign adviser and author of 'Trumponomics,' to the Federal Reserve Board
Read more »
Former Trump adviser Michael Flynn faces $5 million in legal fees amid pardon buzz: SourceMichael Flynn, the Trump adviser who admitted to lying to FBI agents about his Russia contacts, has shouldered a stunning $5 million legal bill, a source told ABC News.
Read more »