Frederick Fitzgerald was born in 1904 in Boston, Massachusetts, the youngest child of Mayor Thomas "Honey Fitz" Fitzgerald and Mary Josephine Hannon. As the last born of the Fitzgerald siblings, he came into the world during the height of his father's political career — "Honey Fitz" would serve his first mayoral term just two years later. Frederick grew up in a household that was a gathering point for Irish Catholic Boston society, and his childhood was shaped by his father's gregarious political style and his family's prominent place in the city.
Frederick Fitzgerald died in 1935 at the age of 31, the shortest-lived of the Fitzgerald siblings. His death came before the Kennedy family had achieved the national prominence it would attain in the following decades — before his nephew John F. Kennedy had entered politics, before Robert Kennedy had been born into public life, and before Senator Ted Kennedy had been born at all.
His brief life placed him entirely within the orbit of his father's Boston world rather than the national stage the family would later occupy. As the youngest child of "Honey Fitz," Frederick represents the generation that bridged the immigrant ambition of the late nineteenth century and the national political dynasty that his sister Rose's marriage to Joseph Kennedy would produce. His early death left him a largely private figure in a family that would soon become the most famous in American political life.
Frederick Fitzgerald is the late child of John Francis 'Honey Fitz' Fitzgerald and Mary Josephine 'Josie' Hannon.
Frederick Fitzgerald's father was Thomas "Honey Fitz" Fitzgerald, twice Mayor of Boston and U.S. Representative from Massachusetts.
Frederick Fitzgerald was the great-uncle of President John F. Kennedy. His sister Rose Fitzgerald married Joseph P. Kennedy Sr., and their son John became the 35th president.