Roderich Fick was the second child of Adolf Eugen Gaston Fick and Marie Katharinan Wislicenus. He grew up in Zürich and studied architecture in Zürich, Munich and Dresden. In 1911 he participated in an expedition to Greenland and in 1914 he left for the German colony Cameroon where he worked as an engineer. With the outbreak of the first war he became a Lieutenant of the Reserve in Cameroon. In 1919 he married Marie Günther and they settled in Herrsching, Bavaria where he worked as an architect. He built a home in Herrsching for the sculptor Ernesto de Fiori and designed the new cemetery in Herrsching. Larger commissions followed and in 1933 he was building new parts of Munich in Laim and Friedenheim. He trained under Theodor Fischer, and became professor at the Munich Technical University in 1935. After a building near the Braunen Haus in Munich attracted the attention of Adolf Hitler, he was provided with further commissions in Munich and also for buildings at the Obersalzberg near Berchtesgaden. He designed the Munich residence of Rudolf Hess in 1936, joined the NSDAP in 1937, and was involved in a number of projects for members of the Nazi leadership including Martin Bormann's villa in Berchtesgaden and Hitler's first and original Teehaus on the nearby Mooslahnerkopf. The Teehaus on the Kehlstein mountain was essentially a massive granite square with the main reception hall being octagonal in shape with a large panoramic window. This and other specially-placed windows would provide a breathtaking view of the surrounding mountains as well as both the Scharitzkehl Valley and the Königssee lake. Difficulties with Martin Bormann led to his dismissal from his post in Berchtesgaden, but he continued his career in Linz, where he worked directly for Hitler, and held on to his professorship. He was given the task of redesigning Linz and remained among Hitler's favourites. After the war Fick was officially classified as a person passively complicit in Nazi crimes, participated in the reconstruction of Linz and retired to practice in Herrsching, Bavaria. In 1946 his conduct in the nazi era was investigated and he was forced to pay a huge fine and support the rebuilding of Munich. In 1948 his case was reinvestigated. It was concluded that he had not enriched himself and he paid a much smaller fine and was free to work again. He married his former student Catharina Büscher, 28 years his junior, and they worked together until he retired in 1954.