Thomas C. Schmidt, of Brunswick, died peacefully in Mid Coast Hospital surrounded by his family on June 18. He had been suffering from chronic respiratory illnesses that became acute.
He was born in York, Penn. on Oct. 15, 1930, the son of George Small Schmidt and Josephine Reifsnider Schmidt.
He earned his BA degree at Princeton University in 1952 with Honors in English Literature. In 1955 he graduated from Virginia Theological Seminary with a M.Div. degree. He received his Ph.D. in Policy Sciences from the State University of New York at Buffalo in 1970.
His lifetime concern for people was manifest in his three professional careers where he served first as a clergyman, then in state government, and finally in international development. From 1955 through 1968 he served as a parish priest in the Episcopal Church. His first post was the chaplain to expatriate English-speaking members of the Anglican Church in Colombia, South America. He and his family lived in Bogota where he was rector of St. Alban’s Church. From Bogota he also served a number of small communities in the oil fields, banana plantations, and gold mines of Northern Colombia. They left Colombia in 1959 when Tom accepted the position of Assistant Minister, St. James’ Church, New London, Conn. In 1961 the family moved to Longmeadow, Mass. when he became the rector of St. Andrew’s Church where he served until 1968.
On a sabbatical year in 1965-66, the family again moved overseas when he worked for the Diocese of Zululand and Swaziland of Southern Africa.
Upon his return from South Africa he began to seek opportunities that would allow him to pursue meaningful change in the secular world. With support of the Episcopal Church he left the parish ministry in 1968 and enrolled in a doctoral program at SUNY Buffalo. There he researched inter-organizational policy.
After earning his Ph.D. in 1970 he moved to Rhode Island to work in state government as Assistant Commissioner of Education for Organization and Management.
In 1973 he was sent on temporary loan to the Governor of Rhode Island’s Program and Policy staff to help manage and organize the Governor’s immediate response to the devastating economic loss of the state’s numerous Navy bases.
The Board of Regents appointed him Commissioner of Education in 1974. He served in that position for two terms.
He moved to Washington, D.C. in 1980, holding a variety of positions in international development until he joined the World Bank in 1983. During his 14 years there he worked with the governments of Pakistan, Bhutan, Nepal and Bangladesh.
He left the World Bank in 1993 and moved to Bristol. There he began an unexpected fourth career as a carpenter, when he discovered he had a full time job renovating the 1860s era farmhouse he and his wife had bought. Ten years later the three thousand square foot renovation of the farmhouse and barn was complete. Among his other commitments he served on the board and then presidency of CONA, a local peace and justice group. He also cared for the fields of the 30-acre farm and helped Robin with her 5000 sq. ft. organic vegetable garden.
He finally retired in 2006 and moved to a condominium community in Brunswick when the farm became too physically challenging. He remained active as a volunteer for the local food pantry Mid Coast Hunger Prevention Program. And over the last year was energetically exploring the writings of James Joyce.
His exposure to the Quaker community in D.C. and to Buddhism and Hinduism during his overseas assignments influenced an expansion of his spiritual explorations in his own life and within his communities. His life’s work could be summed up as manifesting a compassionate concern for equity and social justice.
He is survived by his wife, Robin Bell Schmidt; children from his first marriage to Lucy S. Melvin, Peter F. Schmidt of York, Penn., Dru Schmidt-Perkins of Baltimore, Md., and Thos. Schmidt of Pensacola, Fla.; step-daughter, Julia Lee Barclay of New York City; seven grandchildren; brother, George S. Schmidt of Schenectady, N.Y.; and sister, Josephine Appel of York, Penn.
In lieu of flowers, Tom requested that donations of time or money be made to the Mid-Coast Hunger Prevention Program, 84A Union St., Brunswick, ME 04011 or via the web at www.mchpp.org.
Memorial service 1 p.m., Sun., July 1 at the Maritime Museum in Bath.
