Commissioner remembered for jokes, kindness

Augustus Oliver 'Gus' Schroeder of Fox Chapel, a manufacturing executive and former borough planning commissioner, has died at age 60.

Mr. Schroeder died Tuesday, Oct. 2, 2001, of a heart attack at UPMC St. Margaret hospital near Aspinwall.

Shortly after graduating from Penn State University in 1963, Mr. Schroeder was hired as a salesman by his father, William Schroeder, a founder of Schroeder Brothers in McKees Rocks.

Mr. Schroeder spent his entire career at Schroeder Industries, which manufactures mining and fluid power components for mobile and industrial markets locally and internationally. He became president in 1988.

Mr. Schroeder's cousin, Woody Oliver of Fox Chapel, described him as a lumbering man with a teasing twinkle in his eye.

'He was an extremely nice person, a gentle guy,' Oliver said.

Jim Morris, dean of computer science at Carnegie Mellon University, knew Mr. Schroeder for more than 45 years since their days as football teammates at Shady Side Academy. Mr. Schroeder graduated in 1959.

Morris described his friend as a 'demon bicycle rider' who loved to write long, amusing poems to read at weddings and social events.

'At dinner parties he'd tell jokes, he'd have us laughing all night,' Morris said. 'He led life with joy and brought it to his friends.'

Mr. Schroeder was a member of the Fox Chapel Golf Club and the Duquesne Club, and was a trustee of Shady Side Academy from 1982-89. He served on the Fox Chapel Borough Planning Commission from 1991-99 and coached Fox Chapel Area Youth Soccer from 1982-89.

He was preceded in death by his father, William Emerson Schroeder.

Mr. Schroeder is survived by his wife, Joliane (Kuppinger) Schroeder; his mother, Margaretta Oliver Schroeder of Amelia Island, Fla.; son, Augustus Oliver 'Gus' Schroeder Jr. of the East End; daughter, Joliane 'Lee' S. Theobald of Albuquerque, N.M.; grandson, Jackson Oliver Theobald of Albuquerque, N.M.; brother, William Emerson Schroeder Jr. of Boston; two sisters, Margaretta 'Terry' Schroeder of the South Side and Mary Schroeder Eichenlaub of Saxonburg.

Visitation will be from 3 to 6 p.m. Sunday in H. Samson Inc., 537 N. Neville St., Shadyside. A memorial service will be held at 11 a.m. Monday in Church of the Ascension, 4729 Ellsworth Ave., Shadyside.

Memorial contributions to Shady Side Academy, 423 Fox Chapel Road, Pittsburgh, PA 15238; or the American Red Cross, Pittsburgh chapter, 225 Boulevard of the Allies, Pittsburgh, PA 15222.