SW MICHIGAN MOURNS THE LOSS OF COMMUNITY GREAT: DR. FRED MATHEWS

DOWAGIAC – Tributes poured in earlier this week when news came that a Southwest Michigan icon had passed away. Dr. Fred Mathews was a longtime optometrist as well as the longtime board chairman at Southwestern Michigan College.
Mathews died Sunday at Lakeland Regional Medical Center in St. Joseph. Services for him were held Wednesday morning at Calvary Bible Church, Dowagiac.
U.S. Rep. Fred Upton called him a “friend, veteran, dedicated community leader and an academic icon.” “His tireless work to help build up the community of Dowagiac and add to the overall educational and economic vitality of Southwest Michigan deserves to be lauded,” he said.
“This loss is felt by all who knew him,” Upton added in a statement. “My thoughts go out to his son, David, and the entire Mathews family.” David Mathews is the current SMC president where his father served as board chairman for 50 years before his retirement in early 2015.
State Sen. John Proos called Mathews “a friend and a voice for good government for as long as I’ve known him.” “He was a visionary leader in founding Southwestern Michigan College and his efforts brought higher education to Southwest Michigan and to countless students,” he said. “Dr. Mathews was a model for community engagement that impacted countless lives for the better and will be missed.”
Dowagiac Chamber of Commerce and Downtown Development Authority Program Director Vickie Phillipson said Mathews’ “lifetime of community leadership changed the face of Dowagiac on levels too numerous to count.” The chamber honored Mathews with a Lifetime Achievement Award last fall.
“To many, the name Dr. Fred L. Mathews is synonymous with one of the largest movers and shakers this generation has ever witnessed,” she added. “He was also the community leader neighboring cities wish they had the fortune of calling their own. For those of us who worked with him, Fred was a giant of all giants.”
Dowagiac realtor Tom Jerdon succeeded Mathews as the SMC board chairman after Mathews retired in January 2015. Mathews was the nation’s longest serving community college board chairman when he retired.
“I knew 25 years ago that I would never meet anyone like him again,” Jerdon said. “He was one of a kind. He was involved with so many people and would still help former patients whenever he could … His crown jewel was creating SMC but he was on so many boards for the county and the city. He had a finger in every pie.”
Jerdon compared Mathews to P.D. Beckwith, one of Dowagiac’s founding fathers. “P.D. Beckwith started Dowagiac in the 1850s and Fred Mathews grew it starting in the 1950s,” he said. “He solved so many problems for local businesses.”
Optometrist Dr. Brenda Smoke got to know Mathews when she and her husband settled in the area and opened their own practice 25 years ago in Buchanan. They eventually bought out Mathews’ practice in Dowagiac in 2004 and became good friends. Mathews worked with them and continued to see patients until 2008.
“He was a leader for our profession,” Smoke said. “The way optometry is practiced today is due to him. Now it is commonplace for us to treat and diagnose medical conditions and that was because he was able to get legislation passed so we could. The entire optometric community in the state know him, he will be missed greatly.”
“I can’t say enough great things about him, we’re all sad today,” she said. “He’s going to be greatly missed, he will never be forgotten.”