She was the level-headed and down-to-earth woman behind and next to serial entrepreneur and billionaire Frank Stronach: Frieda Stronach. The native of East Styria died in Canada on March 26th. She was 81 years old.
Elfriede Sallmutter, her original name, grew up in Weiz. Her father owned a carpentry business. She met Frank Stronach (aka Franz Strohsack) through her brother in 1961 while skiing on the Teichalm. Stronach grew up in modest circumstances in Kleinsemmering near Gutenberg, near the town of Weiz.
When we met, the toolmaker had already been living in his new home of Canada for several years. In 1963 Frieda Sallmutter moved in with him. They married. Daughter Belinda was born in 1966 and son Andrew in 1968. Frieda Stronach, unlike her husband, who was eleven years her senior, was rather reserved in public. Among other things, she took care of horse breeding at the family property in Aurora (Canada).
Frieda Stronach with the former mayor of Weiz Helmut Kienreich in November 2002. At that time, Frank Stronach was awarded honorary citizenship of Weiz © Weiz City Archives
Both of them maintained contact with their hometown of Weiz for many years. Frank Stronach, who is still very active as an entrepreneur today at the age of 91, is, among other things, a patron of the Kunsthaus (he donated one million euros to it). He also supported the football college and the HTL Weiz and is an honorary citizen of the city. A few meters from the main square and the Tabor, he and his wife owned the Sallmutter House, which was recently torn down.
Frank Stronach was honored at the Kunsthaus Weiz in 2012. Right: Former mayor Helmut Kienreich, who attended school with Stronach’s wife © Gery Wolf
“Humble, down-to-earth and approachable”
“As long as her brother and mother were still alive, Frieda Stronach was regularly in Weiz. “She also had a few friends here,” said Helmut Kienreich. The former mayor of Weiz attended elementary and secondary school with her. “Frieda was an impressive woman, always very modest, down-to-earth and approachable.” After his term as city manager ended in March 2012, Kienreich visited the Stronach couple in Canada.
“She was a very down-to-earth and active woman,” says another long-time companion of the Stronach couple. “Her brother Luis was always an anchor for her in Weiz.” In one of the few interviews published in the daily newspaper “Kurier” in 2013, Frieda Stronach also spoke about her marriage and her life: “We have always had a very liberal marriage. And further: “He is my first and only great love. I had a good life.”
It is not yet known when and where Frieda Stronach will say goodbye.