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Letter to the editor

In his heart, multifaceted developer was a rock star

By Stephanie Hayes, Times Staff Writer
Published March 7, 2008

SAFETY HARBOR - Ted Freed had an accounting degree. He was a successful real estate developer. He had a job in investor relations. He was good at doing taxes.

But the kid inside - the one who grew up strumming to the Grateful Dead, the Beatles and Pink Floyd, the one who wasn't allowed to grow a ponytail - wanted to be something else.

A rock star.

"It's what he really wanted to be," said his wife, Laura Freed. "He wanted to play guitar. He wanted to be a part of the music scene in any way that he could."

So he began playing in bands, including one called the Freeds, alongside a lawyer, a respiratory therapist and an auditor. He wore tie-dye shirts and jeans. He grew a ponytail.

He had a good sense of melody and wrote songs. He proposed to his wife by playing guitar. He played at their wedding in 1997. Once, he played with Vince Welnick, keyboardist from the Grateful Dead.

Mr. Freed also was an outspoken Jewish Republican who loved to talk politics. He once sat next to George W. Bush at a baseball game, before Bush was president. Later, he'd defend the president, saying, "Give the guy a break!"

"Ted was a really complex guy," said Mrs. Freed, 41. "Multifaceted, like a diamond. He had so many little things that he did that just made him Ted."

But the biggest thing, she said, was his generosity - helping others, sometimes beyond his means. Around 2004, he started promoting bands, getting them gigs and publicity through his company, Rising Jupiter. He managed many musical acts, including singer Christie Lenee and the well-known Tampa jam band Cope.

"It was more important for him to have a music scene in this town than his own personal gain," said Dennis Stadelman, lead singer of Cope. "He wasn't making a lot of money, but it never deterred him. He never let on."

He bought vans for bands. Spotted them money to record albums. He let them crash in his Safety Harbor home when they needed a place to stay. In 2005, he threw a big music festival called Euphonia in Tallahassee.

Then, in 2006, he learned he had non-Hodgkin's lymphoma.

In January, he came close to dying. He said goodbye to his children, his wife, his family. He ate Maryland crab cakes and saw friends He rallied for a little while longer. But on Tuesday, he died. He was 51.

Mr. Freed didn't love organized religion, but he believed strongly in God. He believed that souls travel and loved ones reunite. That he'd see everyone again.

Stephanie Hayes can be reached at shayes@sptimes.com or 727 893-8857.

Biography

Ted Freed

Born: Sept. 9, 1956.

Died: March 4, 2008.

Survivors: wife, Laura Freed; sons, Alec and Jared Freed; sister, Cheryl Friedman; many extended family members.

Services: 11 a.m. today grave side at Chapel Hill Memorial Park, 12905 Wild Acres Road, Largo.

[Last modified March 6, 2008, 22:51:05]