Frederick K. Stearns

Frederick Kimball Stearns (December 6, 1854 – June 7, 1924) was an American businessman who was the president of Frederick Stearns & Company, a pharmaceutical manufacturing business, from 1887 to 1921. He was also the organizer of the Detroit Orchestral Association, which later became the Detroit Symphony Orchestra, a trustee of the Detroit Museum of Art, and the owner of the Detroit Wolverines baseball team in the National League from 1885 to 1888.

Biography Stearns was born in Buffalo, New York, in 1854, the son of Frederick and Eliza (Kimball) Stearns. He moved to Detroit with his parents as a child and was educated at the Philo M. Patterson Classical School. He enrolled in the University of Michigan in 1873 where he was the captain and second baseman for the Michigan Wolverines baseball team. He left the university as a junior to join his father's pharmaceutical manufacturing business, Frederick Stearns & Company. He became president of the company in 1887. Stearns resigned as president of the family business in 1921 to become chairman of the board.

In 1885, Stearns acquired the Detroit Wolverines baseball club and became its president.