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Frederick Henry Ball (July 17, 1915 – February 5, 2007) was an American movie studio executive and younger brother of Lucille Ball.Associated Press. " Lucille Ball's brother dies in Cottonwood", Tucson Citizen, February 7, 2007. Retrieved on 2008-05-29.
His father was a telephone lineman for the Bell Telephone Company, and his mother was a Pianist. His father contracted typhoid fever while DeDe Ball was pregnant with Fred, and died in February 1915. In 1918, his mother married a Swedish American Lutheranism salesman named Edward (Ed) Peterson.
Fred and his sister were raised by their grandparents. Their grandfather, Fred Hunt, was an eccentric socialist who enjoyed the theater and frequently took the family to vaudeville shows. He worked in the furniture industry. He often whittled toys and made doll furniture for his grandchildren. Fred thought of Mr. Hunt as his father (since his own father died before he was born); it was his grandfather who became a surrogate father to him through most of his childhood. Fred, Lucille, and their mother all lived together with the Hunts for a time in Celoron.
In 1927, a neighborhood child, Warner Erikson, was paralyzed by a shot accidentally fired from a gun Fred's grandfather had given him for his birthday. Erikson died five years later. The resultant publicity and lawsuit forced Mr. Hunt to sell his house and enter bankruptcy. He was even jailed for a time. After this incident (which was referred to in the family as " the break-up"), the family had to split up. Fred's grandfather died in 1944.
After managing administration at Desilu Productions, he instead managed restaurants and hotels, such as the Palm Desert Hotel, and mobile-home parks. He was a real estate agent and broker in Arizona.
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