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Armin H. Frank
1933 – 2021
Armin Henry Frank, USMC (Ret.), aged 88 years, died on Monday, November 15, 2021, after a brief struggle with the COVID-19 virus.
He is survived by his wife of 65 years, Geneva Ann (Fugate) Frank; children, Erich (East Aurora, N.Y.), Hagen (Grand
Rapids, Mich.); Rainer (Gig Harbor, Wash.), Cathrine (Portland, Maine); along with nine grandchildren. Armin is also survived by his brother, Walter Frank, of Blanchester, Ohio.
Born in Cincinnati, Ohio on Sept. 29, 1933 to Henry (Hein- rich) Frank and Mary (Maria) Frank, nee Heiss, both of whom were naturalized U.S. citizens from Bavaria, Major Frank spent his early childhood in Cincinnati before the family moved to Blanchester during World War II.
Armin met his future wife, Geneva, the daughter of Dr. Leo Fugate (DVM) and Olive Fugate of Wilmington, Ohio, shortly after he graduated from Blanchester High School. He was 17 years old, Geneva was 16 years old, and – except for Armin’s overseas deployments during his Marine Corps service – they would spend the rest of their lives together.
Major Frank attended Brown University in Providence, Rhode Island, under the then-newly created Naval ROTC Scholarship program, and was commissioned a 2nd Lieutenant in the U.S. Marine Corps upon graduation in 1956.
Geneva, who had begun her education at The Ohio State University when Armin started at Brown, but who later trans- ferred to Rutgers University in New Jersey so that she and Armin could be closer to each other, also received her degree that year, and the two married in Wilmington, Ohio, that September.
After training in Quantico, Va., then 2nd Lt. Frank received his first choice of “military occupational specialty” (MOS): 0302, Infantry Officer.
During the following 13 years, Armin and Eva lived in Hawaii (at the time, a U.S. Territory), California, North Carolina, and (during Armin’s unaccompanied overseas assignments), with Dr. and Mrs. Fugate in Wilmington.
Armin’s active Marine Corps service ended in 1969, when he was transferred to the “Temporary Disability Retired List” at the rank of Major based on severe service-related injuries he suffered while serving in, and training with, special-operations units.
The family moved to Bavaria for several years, where they lived surrounded by their extended Frank and Heiss families.
Returning to the United States in late 1971, Armin entered law school at the University of Cincinnati under the G.I. Bill. In 1973, Armin was transferred to the Retired List of the USMC after it was determined that his injuries were both permanent, and too severe, to permit his return to active service.
Armin was admitted to the Ohio Bar in 1974, and, after clerking for Judge George Palmer on the First Appellate District of Ohio, opened his own office in Blanchester. He practiced throughout southern Ohio over the next thirty years, with Eva beside him, helping to manage the expanding and successful practice.
Although he sometimes liked to style himself a “simple country lawyer,” it was in trial and appellate work that he special- ised. He was widely regarded as a tenacious litigator and a skilled appellate advocate. In 2005 he and Eva retired.
Armin was a published author (“The Flesh of Kings” Doubleday, 1957), an avid scuba diver, an engaging raconteur, and an accomplished competitive shooter in long-range black- powder cartridge.
A memorial service will be held, on a date to be determined, at Megie Funeral Home/Craver Chapel in Milford, Ohio.
Anyone wishing to receive direct notification of the event is asked to contact Armin’s second son, Hagen Frank (Major, USMC, retired), at hagenandlaura@comcast.net.
— Submitted by Erich Frank
MEMORIALS
THE REPORT | January/February 2022 | CincyBar.org
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