 Dr. Gottlieb was a doctor in Grand Bahama and Abaco who was employed by the Abaco Lumber Company owned by the late Wallace Groves the founder of the Bahamas second city Freeport in Grand Bahama.Fred Gottlieb became an active member of the Free National Movement (FNM) at an early age.In 1987, in a close run-off election for the party nomination in South Abaco, he narrowly defeated Robert Sweeting and won his party's nomination.