Obituary
On Tuesday, Oct. 26, 2010, Lake Tahoe and the skiing industry lost a great friend. Born July 9, 1955, in Princeton, New Jersey, Robert ‘Fro’ Frohlich, aged 55, died from complications due to cancer of the appendix. Preceded in death by his father, Steven J.R. Frohlich. Left to celebrate Fro’s life are his mother, Billie Burke Rogers, and sister, Margaret Frohlich Pearcy, both of Ottawa, Ontario, Canada, and all his wonderful and loving friends in the Tahoe community and around the world.
Robert was an award-winning journalist, fearless adventurer, skier, sailor, climber, all-star lacrosse and rugby player, loving son and brother, and great friend to many. In addition to coaching a local high school football team, he encouraged and mentored many young people, who responded with love and respect, and every dog in the community was his friend.
In 1994, Robert co-founded SnowTribe Productions, a charitable organization that produces multi-audio visual shows and other events to benefit local charities.
Robert’s work appeared in many newspapers and magazines, among them: Moonshine Ink, Snow Country, SKI, Skiing, Peaks, Powder, Couloir, Sierra Heritage, the San Francisco Chronicle, and Ski Area Management. He was a contributing editor for Tahoe Quarterly Magazine and a columnist for the Reno Gazette Journal, the Squaw Valley Times, Ski Racing and Snowbomb.com. For 10 years, Robert covered major professional boxing for Boxing Illustrated and the United States Amateur Boxing Association.
Robert was a graduate of the Lawrenceville School in Lawrenceville, New Jersey and the University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill, where he played varsity sports and majored in Film Communications.
He moved to Squaw Valley, California in 1977, while working for ABC Sports as an assistant to the producer. His writings won numerous awards, including First Place, Best Feature Writing from the Nevada State Press Association, and First Place, Best Sports Column from the National Newspaper Association. He received the Far West Ski Association’s Bill Berry Award for feature writing. In 2006, he was awarded ‘Outstanding Employee Service’ by the North Lake Tahoe Chamber of Commerce
Author of the book ‘Mountain Dreamers: Visionaries of Sierra Nevada Skiing,’ in 1998, Robert was awarded the prestigious ULLR Award by the International Skiing History Association. His second book, ‘Skiing With Style’ was published in 1999. ‘Mountain Journal,’ written for the Intrawest Corporation, was published in 2001.
Other hats have included Director of Public Relations for Ski Homewood and Squaw Valley USA; Ambassador of Skiing for Timberland Eyewear; Ambassador of Skiing for K2 skis; Ambassador of Skiing for Revo; Ambassador of Skiing for Atomic, Native Eyewear and Karbon clothing. He was producer and on-camera talent of a weekly broadcasted snowsport segment for the Resort Sports Network. He was publicist for SnowFest, Lake Tahoe’s annual winter carnival, and chaired the Lake Tahoe nomination committee for the 2002 Olympic Torch Relay. Robert covered the 2002 Winter Olympics for the Sacramento Bee. In 2007 Robert covered international adventure and extreme running races in Costa Rica for national publications and event organizers.
