Jacob Fred Schoellkopf III ’53

Fred died Dec. 8, 2019, after a long battle with Lewy body dementia.

He was born in Dallas, Texas, and attended Hotchkiss School before coming to Princeton. He joined Tiger Inn, majored in geology, and wrote his thesis on “Physiography and Paleontology in Dallas County, Texas.”

After graduation, Fred spent two years as a naval officer aboard a cargo vessel supplying bases in Trinidad and Guantanamo Bay, Cuba. He discovered in graduate school that a career in geology was not appealing and therefore settled down to selling securities in Dallas.

Just after our 10th reunion, Fred switched goals again and went back to graduate school, this time to earn an MFA at Claremont Graduate School in Claremont, Calif., and start a career as a painter emphasizing geometric abstract art and color theory.

Working in a loft in Pasadena, Calif., Fred created art that was exhibited throughout Southern California and the United States. In Pasadena Fred met and married Eileen Reekie and they traveled widely, finding inspiration for his art in the dazzling bright colors of Asia and the marble pavement of the Taj Mahal and in early American quilts.

Fred is survived by his daughter, Sarah Anne Schoellkop; son-in-law, Richard William Neil; granddaughter, Anna Jessica Schoellkopf Neil; step-grandchildren Alexandra and Robert Neil; brother George Schoellkopf and his husband, Gerald Incandela; sister Anne Coke; along with nieces, nephews, and many beloved cousins.

The Schoellkopfs generously supported many local, national, and international charitable organizations, including Hillsides Home for Children, Pasadena Art Alliance, American Field Service, Southern Poverty Law center, California Arboretum Foundation, Planned Parenthood, Migrant Offshore Aid Station Foundation, Black Lives Matter, Music and Memory, Connecticut College, Stanford University, Princeton University, the San Francisco Zoo, Union Station Homeless Services of Pasadena, the Lewy Body Dementia Association, Boys and Girls Clubs of America, The World Wildlife Fund, The Los Angeles Regional Food Bank, Feeding America, Feed the Children, Bread for the World, Oxfam America, Alzheimer's Association, and their home church, All Saints Episcopal Church in Pasadena, among many others.