Fritzi Pesti

Fritzi Pesti of Palm Harbor, Florida, passed away peacefully at home on November 6, 2024 after a two year battle with cancer. Fritzi was an agent with Bremer-Bjurquist Real Estate Agency in Dunedin and also the co-owner and founder of Palm Harbor Dancesport ballroom studio. She leaves behind her loving husband Janos Pesti and devoted step-daughter Edina Pesti. Fritzi was 64 years young and had more than twenty years of experience teaching ballroom dancing in the southwest and in Florida. She had an open-minded and engaging personality which brought her a life filled with colorful people and experiences.

Fritzi Pesti was born on May 23, 1960 in Detroit to parents William “Willy” and Marilyn (Glicken) Goose whose ancestors were Jewish immigrants from Russia and Poland. Her father owned American Credit Association, Inc. and was an investor in commercial and residential properties. Her mother was a successful real estate broker. Fritzi attended Stevenson High School in Livonia, Michigan and was a daddy’s girl who enjoyed going to concerts and the racetrack with her father. He introduced her to the greatest performing artists of his time and she acquired an appreciation for life’s finer things. After attending the University of Michigan to study commercial art she dropped out at her mother’s behest to get into the real estate business and decided to move out at the age of 18. She chased adventure and lived in Prescott, Arizona for a while working as zookeeper by day and a comedienne by night clad in a crystal cowgirl outfit. Her travels took her to San Antonio, Texas where she returned to design work and opened a successful custom interiors and drapery shop. It was perfect work for her, as the breadth of her knowledge in fine art, furniture, fabric, and crystal was impressive. Her life changed when she signed up for swing dancing classes during the swing craze of the late 1990s. She soon felt confident enough to teach it and started a side hustle as a dance pro. Like her parents, Fritzi was an entrepreneur at heart, so she began to open a series of dance studios. The last studio she opened in Texas she named "The Blue Bubble Ballroom”. It was an 8500 sq.ft. music and dance venue that is in business to this day. Fritzi was a very petite woman but she had a commanding presence and was no pushover. There were stories about handling the staff and clients at the nightspots she owned. One time she scared off a loose Rottweiler when she had nothing to protect her other than books of fabric samples. She called herself an idiot savant when it came to making money. Fritzi knew a lot about business but she knew more about people. Personal connections mattered more than anything else to her and she was adroit at keeping people happy and close to her. They felt important when they were in her presence because her kindness was sincere. She specialized in teaching beginners and never lost patience with them. She was an ace with choreography and could teach large groups of inexperienced dancers a full routine in an hour. She was tough but her students loved her. Like all great teachers, she loved learning and filled any spare time she had cooking and spoiling her family and three dogs with new and delicious gourmet meals. She filled her home with beautiful objects, and each one had a story. Very few could boast a life spent like hers. She savored every minute of it. Losing Fritzi has been heartbreaking for the many people who were close to her.

In addition to her husband and step-daughter, Fritzi is survived by her step-mother Karen Goose of West Bloomfield, MI, half-brother Robert Coleman of Michigan, mother Marilyn Tracy of Tampa, FL, dance partner Brian Slater of Largo, FL, and business partner Jane Baginski of Palm Harbor, FL. Fritzi leaves a great number of colleagues, friends, and students in the ballroom dancing and real estate communities in both Texas and Florida.

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