The 87-year-old lifelong Franklin resident and lifelong parishioner of St. Mary’s Catholic Church “passed away in his home … surrounded by his wife, Carol, and family,” according to his obituary.
He graduated in 1955 from Bishop Fenwick High School, where he secured the first trophy in the school’s history as the winner of a regional oratorical contest. He also was captain of the football team and became the first inductee in the Fenwick Hall of Achievement.
He attended Villa Madonna College (now Thomas More University), the University of Dayton, and the University of Notre Dame. He graduated from the University of Cincinnati College of Law and was admitted to the bar in 1961, when he started working with the law firm Tracy & Tracy in West Carrollton and Franklin before establishing his own practice in Franklin in 1966.
During his career he served as law director for Franklin and Springboro, assistant county prosecutor in Warren County and Miami River Conservancy Court judge.
Fedders was appointed to the Warren County Common Pleas Court bench in 1971 by Ohio Gov. James Rhodes. He was continuously re-elected until his retirement in 2003, after which he worked on a part-time basis for eight more years hearing trials in area counties.
Fedders was honored several times by the Ohio Supreme Court, and he was named the Common Pleas Judge of the Year in 2002 by the Miami Valley Trial Lawyers Association. In 2014, the University of Cincinnati College of Law Alumni Association designated him one of its distinguished alumni.
Throughout the course of his legal career, Fedders was an active member of several community organizations. He served as director of the Franklin Public Library for 13 years, was a member of the Franklin Optimist Club since 1967 and was a founder of the Franklin Pee Wee Football Association. He served as a city planning board member and a board member of the Community Correction Center in Warren County. He also served St. Mary’s Church in numerous roles from altar boy to directing religious education to serving as a pastoral council member.
Fedders is survived by his wife of 67 years, Carol, six children, 19 grandchildren and three great-grandchildren.
A visitation is scheduled from 9:30 to 11 a.m. Feb. 1 at Anderson Funeral Home, 40 N. Main St., Springboro. A funeral Mass will follow at 11:30 a.m. Feb. 1 at St. Mary of the Assumption Catholic Church, 9579 Yankee Road in Springboro, with burial at Woodhill Cemetery in Franklin.