Fredrik Axel Schiotz was born in Chicago, Illinois.
Both his father, Jacob Schiotz, and his mother, Stina Akerholt, had been immigrants from Norway.
He graduated from St. Olaf College in Northfield, Minnesota (class of 1924) and earned a master's degree at Luther Theological Seminary in Saint Paul, Minnesota.
[1] In 1954 Schiotz was elected as the first president of the historically Norwegian-American Evangelical Lutheran Church.
He welcomed the announcement of Pope Paul VI to celebrate the 1900th anniversary of the death of the Apostle Peter and Apostle Paul, and promised the participation and cooperation in the festivities.