Freddie Mac's Kellermann sought time off for stress before death

David Kellermann, acting chief financial officer of mortgage giant Freddie Mac, is pictured in this undated photograph, released on April 22, 2009.

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The Freddie Mac executive who apparently committed suicide had asked to take time off from work to deal with job-related stress, a person familiar with the matter told Reuters on Thursday.

David Kellermann, the mortgage giant's acting chief financial officer, told company officials that he felt overworked and overwhelmed and was granted time off on Tuesday, the day before he was found dead in his home in Washington's Virginia suburbs, the source said.

Kellermann, 41, had played a major role in helping Freddie Mac to navigate past accounting scandals and answer questions from regulators and investors who put the company under intense scrutiny as a five-year U.S. housing boom ended in 2006.

Kellermann signed paperwork delegating his responsibilities to subordinates but remained at work on Tuesday, said the source, who spoke on condition of anonymity.

Kellermann had been promoted twice in the previous twelve months and colleagues guessed that the additional responsibility was a cause of stress, the person said.

Freddie Mac has contracted grief counselors to attend to employees at the mortgage finance company's sprawling Virginia headquarters campus, spokeswoman Sharon McHale said.

Last year's government takeover of Freddie Mac and its sibling mortgage agency Fannie Mae came as the companies, known as government-sponsored enterprises, faced deep losses and the housing crash engulfed other financial institutions.

(Reporting by Patrick Rucker, writing by Andy Sullivan, editing by Patricia Zengerle)