Everett E. Schmidt ’51 died on June 14, 2022, in Darien, Connecticut.
(The following was provided by the Transylvania Times on July 27, 2022)
Everett E. Schmidt ’51
Everett Edwin Schmidt, formerly of Brevard, Centerport, N.Y., and Dayton, Ohio, died June 14, 2022, at the age of 93. In the fall of 2021 he moved to Darien, Conn., to be closer to his daughter and her family.
He was predeceased by his wife of forty-five years, Ruth Ann Ballenger Schmidt, and is survived by his daughter, Deborah Schmidt Robinson (Dr. Rowland Perry Robinson); his grandson, Rowland Halsey Robinson; his friend, Karen Lauritzen; and adoring nieces and nephews.
Born in New York City on March 4, 1929, to Ernest and Frieda Wolff Schmidt, he grew up on West 125th Street in New York and in Forest Hills, Long Island. He attended Ricker Classical Institute in Maine and graduated from Bowdoin College in 1951, where he was a charter member of the Bowdoin Outing Club and a member of Sigma Nu fraternity. He received his MBA from Xavier University.
His first job out of college was at the Economic Institute in New York City, one of the first business forecasting outfits. This led to positions with Royal McBee and Standard Oil. He retired after thirty-two years working for the National Cash Register firm (NCR) in Dayton, Ohio, focusing on international marketing.
A gifted raconteur with incomparable joie de vivre, he enjoyed taking groups on “Lion Hunts” and loved to tell the tale of swimming across the Hudson River with his older brother, Bob. He could play nearly any tune on his harmonica and rarely turned down an offer for a jam session with fellow musicians. He was the Transylvania County Artist of the Year in 2012 and was prolific as a pastelist working in his studio in North Carolina, and en plein air in Maine and Europe.
He loved hiking, cabernet, dogs, travel, FOX News, the daily WSJ and was active in church and community choirs for over forty years. He touched so many with his gentle soul, kindness, curiosity, and genuine love of people. He would want to be celebrated for the joyous and full life that he led.