If you're an engineer and can't get excited looking at a jet engine, you don't belong in the business. With these words, Marshall "Bud" Schober, who received his engineering degree from Massachusetts Institute of Technology, set aside a promising career as an engineer and ventured into sales. Mr. Schober, a resident of Ligonier, Westmoreland County, and a former president of Latrobe Steel Co., died from complications of cancer on Tuesday, Feb. 26, 2002, in Latrobe Area Hospital. He was 77. Whether he was conducting business in the executive offices of Latrobe Steel or making the rounds of the shop floors, Mr. Schober was known as Bud. "Everyone called Dad 'Bud,'" said his son, Scott Schober. "Dad insisted on it. Dad was as comfortable with a pretzel and a bottle of beer as he was with a fancy meal." "When we were kids, Dad often told us that the reason he left the farm and attended college was that he couldn't stand the fuzz on the peaches he helped pick in his parents' orchards in New Jersey," said his daughter, Tina Thomas. "We knew better," Scott Schober said. "You're not accepted at MIT because of an aversion to peach fuzz. "Dad did it the hard way. When his family couldn't afford to send him to college, Dad enrolled in the work/study program at Drexel University (Philadelphia), where he worked three months and went to school for three months." Thomas said her father dropped out of Drexel during World War II and enlisted in the Navy. "The Navy was so impressed with the scholastic record he brought from Drexel that they entered him into the V12 program and sent him to MIT, where he received his degree in engineering." While a student at MIT, Mr. Schober met Elisabet Anderson on a blind date. At the time, Miss Anderson was studying physical therapy at Sargent College, now a part of Boston University. They were married in 1947. Mrs. Schober died in 1994. Upon graduation from MIT, Mr. Schober was sent to midshipman's school. By the time he completed his studies, the war had ended and instead of going on active duty, he was discharged and placed in the Naval Reserve. Born and raised on a fruit farm in Monroeville, N.J., Mr. Schober was one of three sons in the family of Frank and Josephine McNeil Schober. "My father was very proud of having been born and raised on a farm," his daughter said. "It provided him with a good work ethic, which he often said he carried with him throughout his life." In 1950, at the invitation of a former classmate, Mark Saxman, whose family owned Latrobe Steel, Mr. Schober went to work for the company. In the ensuing years, Mr. Schober, as a member of the company's sales staff, came under the watchful eye of Joe Workman, the president and later the chief executive officer of Latrobe Steel who was preparing him for the position of president, which he filled in 1972. "Dad understood that sales ran a company," said his son. "He enjoyed the business, even though he had to face a nine-month strike and an unfriendly takeover attempt, before the company became a part of Timken, which was their White Knight." Ever mindful that, as an executive of a local company, it was his duty to commit his time and talents to benefit the community. Mr. Schober served as chairman of the board of Latrobe Area Hospital, UPMC and the Latrobe Community Chest. As a resident of Ligonier, he volunteered and served on the board of Ligonier Library and Ligonier Valley Cemetery. He was also a trustee of Hood College, where his daughter received her degree. Raised a Methodist, Mr. Schober continued a lifetime commitment to his denomination and was a member of Heritage United Methodist Church in Ligonier. He was a member of the Laurel Valley Golf Club, Rolling Rock Club, Ligonier Country Club and the Duquesne Club in Pittsburgh. Mr. Schober is survived by his daughter, Tina J. Thomas of Sewickley; sons, S. Scott Schober of Sewickley and Robert G. "Skip" Schober of Washington, Washington County; and six grandchildren, Erik, Tyler, Elisabet and Alex Schober, and William and Christina Thomas. He was also the brother of the late Frank Schober Jr. and Robert Schober. Friends will be received from 4 to 9 p.m. Friday at the J. Paul McCracken Funeral Chapel Inc., 144 E. Main St., Ligonier. Funeral services will be at 11 a.m. Saturday from the Heritage United Methodist Church, with the Rev. Frederick C. Vanderhoff officiating. Interment will follow in Ligonier Valley Cemetery. In lieu of flowers, the family suggests contributions in his memory to Latrobe Area Charitable Foundation or to the Ligonier Valley Library.

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