{{short description|American politician}} {{Infobox officeholder | name = Fred Preller | image = | caption = <!--Current office--> | state_assembly = New York | district = 9th | term_start = January 11, 1944 | term_end = January 12, 1965 | office2 = Chairman of the Ways and Means Committee of New York State | governor2 = Nelson Rockefeller | term_start2 = January 10, 1961 | term_end2 = January 14, 1964 | office3 = Chairman of the Queens County Republican Committee | governor3 = Nelson Rockefeller | term_start3 = September 22, 1962 | term_end3 = January 25, 1965 | successor3 = George Archinal <!--Personal data--> | birth_date = March 29, 1902 | birth_place = Brooklyn, New York, U.S. | death_date = August 29, 1974 | death_place = Queens, New York, U.S. | party = Republican Party | spouse = Valerie Preller | children = | alma_mater = | website = | footnotes = }}
'''Frederick Werner Preller''' (March 29, 1902 – August 29, 1974) was a New York State Assemblyman from 1944 until 1965.<ref>{{Cite news|url=https://www.nytimes.com/1974/08/31/archives/fred-w-preller-exassemblyman-queens-republican-of-ways-and-means.html?_r=0|title = Fred W. Prellerex‐Assemblyman|newspaper = The New York Times|date = 31 August 1974}}</ref>
==Life== He was born on March 29, 1902,<ref>[http://sortedbyname.com/pages/p109630.html "PRELLER, FRED"] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20141006233826/http://sortedbyname.com/pages/p109630.html |date=2014-10-06 }} at Social Security Info</ref> in Greenpoint, Brooklyn, New York City. He attended St. Nicholas Parochial School and St. Nicholas Commercial High School.<ref>[https://books.google.com/books?id=QqBWAAAAYAAJ&q=red+book+fred+w+preller+born ''New York Red Book''] (1961–1962; pg. 201)</ref> From about 1930 on, he worked as a securities consultant for Eastman Dillon & Co., after a merger in 1956 known as Eastman Dillon, Union Securities & Co.
Preller was a member of the New York State Assembly from 1945 to 1965, sitting in the 165th, 166th, 167th, 168th, 169th, 170th, 171st, 172nd, 173rd, 174th and 175th New York State Legislatures; and was Chairman of the Committee on Ways and Means from 1961 to 1964.
He was an alternate delegate to the 1944 and 1964 Republican National Conventions. He was Chairman of the Queens County Republican Committee from September 1962<ref>[https://query.nytimes.com/gst/abstract.html?res=9B04E2D71E38E63ABC4A51DFBF668389679EDE ''PRELLER TO HEAD G.O.P. IN QUEENS''] in the ''New York Times'' on September 22, 1962 (subscription required)</ref> to January 1965.<ref>[https://www.nytimes.com/1965/01/25/archives/record-in-queens-cited-by-archinal-new-gop-chief-calls-the-governor.html ''RECORD IN QUEENS CITED BY ARCHINAL''] in the ''New York Times'' on January 25, 1965 (subscription required)</ref>
In October 1964, Preller was questioned about his missing income tax returns from 1960 to 1962.<ref>[http://fultonhistory.com/Newspaper%2019/Albany%20NY%20Knickerbocker%20News/Albany%20NY%20Knickerbocker%20News%201964/Albany%20NY%20Knickerbocker%20News%201964%20-%208159.pdf ''No Record Preller Filed '60–'62 Income Tax Returns''] in ''The Knickerbocker News'', of Albany, on October 1, 1964</ref> In December 1965, he was accused of not filing income tax returns from 1959 to 1963.<ref>[https://www.nytimes.com/1965/12/03/archives/preller-accused-of-not-filing-us-tax-returns-queens-assemblyman.html ''Preller Accused of Not Filing U.S. Tax Returns''] in the ''New York Times'' on December 3, 1965 (subscription required)</ref> In 1969, he pleaded guilty to not having paid income tax in 1961.<ref>[https://query.nytimes.com/gst/abstract.html?res=9F04E2DB1239E63ABC4953DFB4668382679EDE ''EX-G.O.P. AIDE PLEADS GUILTY TO TAX COUNT''] in the ''New York Times'' on February 1, 1969 (subscription required)</ref>
He died on August 29, 1974, at his home at 218–05 100th Avenue in Queens Village, Queens.<ref>[https://query.nytimes.com/gst/abstract.html?res=9F0CE5D71E3CEF34BC4950DFBE66838F669EDE ''FRED W. PRELLER, EX-ASSEMBLYMAN''] in the ''New York Times'' on August 31, 1974 (subscription required)</ref>
Preller's grandson, James Preller, would go on to become an author.
==Sources== {{reflist}}
{{s-start}} {{s-par|us-ny-hs}} {{succession box | before = new district | title = New York State Assembly <br>Queens County, 9th District | years = 1945–1965 | after = district abolished}} {{succession box | before = William H. MacKenzie | title = New York State Assembly <br>Chairman of the Committee on Ways and Means | years = 1961–1964 | after = John T. Satriale}} {{s-end}}
{{DEFAULTSORT:Preller, Fred W.}} Category:1902 births Category:1974 deaths Category:People from Greenpoint, Brooklyn Category:Republican Party members of the New York State Assembly Category:Politicians from Queens, New York Category:20th-century members of the New York State Legislature