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Dr. Paul Edward Schroeder
Born: 12/30/1927
Died: 1/11/2022
Age: 94
Community: Fenton, MI
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Schroeder, M.D., Paul E. 12/30/1927 – 1/11/2022
Paul Edward Schroeder, M.D., age 94, passed away peacefully at Vicinia Gardens on January 11, 2022 in Fenton, Michigan. Paul was born on December 30, 1927 in Joliet, Illinois. Preceded in death by his parents, the Reverend Ernest Eric Schroeder and Reba Farrell Schroeder, and his older brother David Eric Schroeder. Survivors include his wife of over 70 years Phyllis Lee (Dickie) Schroeder, brother John Speer Schroeder of Stanford, California (wife Jennifer Jones Schroeder), and his three children, Bruce Schroeder (wife Jane Blackwell) of Ivins, Utah, Susan Schroeder (husband Gary McNaughton) of Flagstaff, Arizona, and Jonathan Schroeder (partner Janet Borgerson) of Rochester, New York, step granddaughter Katherine Blackwell of Portland, Oregon, and his beloved nieces and nephews, grandnieces and grandnephews, and great-grandnieces and great-grandnephews.
He graduated from Flint Central High School in 1945. He was a graduate of the University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, and completed medical school at Michigan in 1952, where he was a member of the Phi Chi fraternity. He did his internship at Hurley Hospital from 1952 to 1953. He served as First Lieutenant in the 53rd Infantry of the U.S. Army during the Korean War, and was stationed in Alaska from 1953 to 1955. One of his memorable Alaska stories was participating in the North Star maneuvers in temperatures of 57 degrees below zero. He became highly skilled at treating frostbitten toes. He completed his medical residency at Hurley Medical Center in 1958, and began his medical practice that same year. He was board certified in Internal Medicine in 1962. He became interested in nephrology in the 1960s, and pioneered kidney dialysis in Genesee County in 1966, as well as Hurley’s kidney transplant program in 1970. He was board certified in Nephrology in 1980, and was a Fellow of the American College of Physicians. He founded the Nephrology and Hypertension practice, which he directed until his retirement in 2006.
Over his career, he treated tens of thousands of people, and he worked tirelessly to improve patient care, completing patient rounds seven days a week, including holidays, Christmas morning rounds, and during midnight emergencies. He led an incredibly energetic and enthusiastic life, and embraced sports with a rare passion. Paul was introduced to outdoor skills in the Boy Scouts, and earned the rank of Eagle Scout. After learning to downhill ski in Alaska during his Army service, he became a lifelong snow skier, taking the family out west to Aspen, Snowbird, and his favorite, Alta, year after year. Snowmobiling, too, became a favorite sport, and he enjoyed driving ever faster machines, often against Phyllis’s advice. He played handball and tennis, and excelled in senior league competition; his tricky left-handed serve confounded many opponents. Basement ping-pong was another avid activity, and he was a highly competitive table game player. He was introduced to boating early on, and took to boats like a duck to water. Early on, he was a waterfront instructor at Camp Eberhart in Three Rivers, Michigan, teaching scores of campers the finer points of small craft sailing. Sailboats, wakeboards, canoes, rowboats, windsurfers, fishing boats, ski boats, and cigarette racing boats capable of 80 miles per hour became part of the Schroeder family.
Of all the sports Paul participated in, water skiing became his strongest and most long-lasting passion. He learned to slalom, trick ski, jump, and ski barefoot, and competed in water ski tournaments into his 80s, winning several state championships along the way. He treasured these victories, even if he had to admit there weren’t too many competitors in the 75-year-old and over division. Above and beyond his own skiing, teaching people to ski was one of his favorite activities. He taught hundreds of people to “let the boat pull you up” over many decades. He helped invigorate the Lake Shannon Ski Club in the 1970s, and it soon became the premier ski club in Michigan for many years. He introduced ski clinics, ski repair clinics, ski tune-up clinics, and ski shows, many of which continue today. He built his own jump and slalom course to use on his beloved Duck Lake, near Interlochen, where he spent every summer since the early 1930s. He was honored to be chosen, along with Phyllis, as Grand Marshalls of the Duck Lake Peninsula Association’s Annual Fourth of July Parade last summer. One of his most treasured water-skiing accomplishments was raising money for the National Kidney Foundation in an annual ski-a-thon on Lake Huron, anchoring a team of skiers skiing all the way from Mackinac Island to Detroit. As Paul would say “that’s about as far as you can go.”
Apart from active sports, Paul was a lifelong nature lover, and enjoyed birdwatching with Phyllis, nature photography, and hiking in the wonderful western National Parks. He also took time for some adventure travel, including excursions to the Amazon, Antarctica, Churchill, Manitoba, Kenya, and Tanzania. He loved music, and was a longtime supporter of the Flint Institute of Music. He was active in the First Presbyterian Church of Flint, where his father was a minister in the 1940s and 1950s. Paul sang bass in the Chancel choir for decades.
In 1998, Paul was honored with Hurley Medical Center’s Pinnacle Award, Hurley’s highest honor accorded to its physicians. The award recognizes and honors physician members of the Hurley family who epitomize the height of professionalism, show unwavering commitment to the community, demonstrate dedication to the medical center, and consistently and unfailingly embody Hurley’s mission of clinical excellence and service to people. Paul won the Golden Apple award from McLaren Medical Center for excellence in teaching and mentoring, and Best Teacher of the volunteer faculty at Michigan State College of Human Medicine. He was also named a Distinguished Alumni of Flint Central in 2002.
A lifelong Michigan Wolverine fan, he established the Dr. Paul and Phyllis Schroeder Scholarship at the University of Michigan Medical School to help U of M medical students follow in his footsteps. Paul tried to retire in 2006, but was called back and returned to work until 2008, when he finally retired after over fifty years of medical practice. During his career, he served as Chairman of the Department of Medicine at Hurley Medical Center for twenty years, from 1971 to 1991, Director of the Renal Unit, and Clinical Professor of Medicine at Michigan State University. Paul mentored hundreds of young doctors who came to Flint from around the world for medical training. For many years, he threw wonderful parties for Hurley’s interns and residents, introducing many to midwestern hospitality, Michigan lake living, and, of course, water skiing. His children remember the international diversity of those parties, where they met young doctors from around the world who marveled at and eagerly joined in Paul’s vigorous leisure activities.
After his retirement, Paul remained active in the community, joining the Shakespeare Club of Flint, the Lake Shannon Sportsmen’s Club, the Flint Retired Men’s Association, the Rubens Society at Flint Institute of Arts, and a weekly men’s coffee klatch. He continued to visit his children’s homes as they moved over the years to Utah, Arizona, California, Rhode Island, Sweden, England, and New York. Paul was extraordinarily generous with his time and energy. He was fiercely loyal to his friends, and continued to make new ones, young and old, throughout his long and vital life. He was a community builder, enthusiastically reaching out and bringing people together. There was always “a whole lot of shaking going on” when Paul was around. He was a great gift-giver. He especially liked to give children noisy, rambunctious gifts that sometimes alarmed their parents and delighted the young recipients. His annual Christmas poinsettia deliveries will be missed by many. He was an important part of many young people’s lives, remembering scores of birthdays with innumerable presents, attending dance recitals, concerts, basketball games, hockey games, ski meets, graduations and graduation open houses, engagement parties and weddings. He loved planning special events and throwing impromptu parties. Paul and Phyllis’s numerous Halloween, Christmas, birthday, and anniversary celebrations were legendary. He could always be counted on to visit friends when they were in the hospital, intervening in their medical care if he thought that was needed. The family expresses their deep appreciation for Paul’s caregivers, the staff at Vicinia Gardens, and the Medical Team Hospice. He was loved by so many and will be remembered every day.
Funeral services for the public will be livestreamed on the Brown Funeral Home website at www.BrownFH.com on Monday, January 17, 2022 at 11:00 am. A celebration of life is planned for this summer.
In lieu of flowers, donations can be made to the First Presbyterian Church of Flint, Community Foundation of Greater Flint, the Humane Society of Genesee County, or University of Michigan Medical School.
Fond memories and condolences may be offered to the family via the online guestbook at www.BrownFh.com |
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