Otto N. (Nick) Frenzel III

(Dec. 1, 1930-Dec. 24, 2010). The son of otto n. frenzel ii and Eleanor Dickson Frenzel and a native of Indianapolis, Frenzel began his banking career in 1956 at merchants national bank & trust company after graduating from the Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania in 1954 and serving two years in the United States Air Force. Generations of the Frenzel family guided Merchant’s National Bank and Trust Company, once one of the three big banks in Indianapolis, from 1882 to 1992. Nick was elected to the board in 1964, the office of president in 1970, and chairman of the board in 1972, the sixth member of the Frenzel family to serve as Merchant’s chief executive. In 1979, he was elected chairman of the Merchants National Corporation, the parent company of Merchants National Bank.

Frenzel epitomized the era of the civic-minded hometown banker. He used his deep personal and professional connections and business acumen to place him in a leading role to help bring on a renaissance in the 1970s and 1980s of downtown Indianapolis. A key member of the negotiating team that met with Colts franchise owner Robert Irsay, Frenzel’s efforts to negotiate a $15 million loan package with Irsay on behalf of Merchants National Bank were a major factor in the relocation of the Colts professional franchise from Baltimore to Indianapolis in 1984.

Frenzel also was the driving force behind the $50-million Merchants Plaza project, at the time the largest single privately developed project in the State of Indiana. When completed in 1977, it included the 20-story Hyatt Regency Hotel, a dramatic boost to the Indianapolis downtown’s convention industry, and twin office buildings rising 15 stories where Merchants National Bank moved as a major tenant.

National City Bank of Cleveland purchased Merchants in 1992. At that time, Frenzel was elected chairman of the board of National City Bank of Indiana and to the board of National City Corporation, positions he held until his retirement in the 1990s. During his banking career, he also served as Chairman of the Board of Union State Bank (Carmel), Mid-State Bank ( Zionsville), and Danville State Bank (Danville).

Frenzel served on a variety of corporate and civic boards, including as chairman of the board for Community Hospital of Indianapolis and for the United Way of Central Indiana. He also served on the boards of American United Life, Baldwin & Lyons, Inc., indianapolis Power & Light company, the Indiana Gas Company, Indianapolis Water Company, and Ballet Internationale (also known as indianapolis Ballet Theatre), the Indianapolis Art Museum, the Indianapolis Humane Society, the Indianapolis Symphony Orchestra, and the Indianapolis Athenaeum Foundation, and as a trustee of Butler University (1974-1981). Frenzel also received several Sagamore of the Wabash awards.

Frenzel, the grandson of Fred C. Dickson, a James Whitcomb Riley Memorial Association Incorporator in 1921, was a member of the Riley Memorial Association (see Riley Children’s Foundation) Board of Governors from 1967 to 2010, serving as president, 1975-1993, and chairman, 1993-1998. Frenzel oversaw the Association’s $25 million commitment to Riley Hospital For Children’s $56 million, 250,000-square-foot, Phase III expansion dedicated on October 7, 1986.

At his death in 2011, a $1.5 million gift from Frenzel’s estate fulfilled a challenge grant to endow the Indianapolis Museum of Art senior conservation scientist position for the Museum’s Conservation Science Laboratory. Frenzel was an outstanding equestrian, riding for decades as a member of Trader’s Point Hunt Club serving many years as its joint master of foxhounds. He also served as the president of the Trader’s Point Hunt Club and Chairman of the Trader’s Point Hunt Charity Horse Show.

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