John C. Schmidt ’67

John died Sept. 19, 2025, from a heart attack in the Gulf Islands National Beaches Park near his family home.

He graduated from McDonough Military Academy near Baltimore.

At Princeton, John majored in biology, was a member of the Woodrow Wilson Society, and roomed at 111 Dodge-Osborn Hall with Bruce Robinson, Conger Gabel, Gary Hudson, Dave Vidal, and Van Parunak. Assistant student manager at Wilcox Hall, a Souvenir Agency salesman, Student Art Agency manager, he played IAA sports. John was a devoted member of the Princeton Evangelical Fellowship.

He graduated from Grace Seminary in Winona Lake, Ind., then founded a faith-based ministry for troubled teenage youth and recovery from drug addiction. The ministry, “Camp Shiloh,” was located on Lake Palestine in Marion, Ind.

Years later he moved to China, teaching English at the English Language Institute in Hunan Province. He then joined the faculty at Hengyang University and spent 12 years there representing Christianity and Western values. He helped finance poor students to obtain higher education and led the Heart of China Scholarship Fund, an affiliate of the Heritage Foundation. He was nominated by the Hunan CCP for a “Foreign Expert Award” presented in Tiananmen Square with heads of corporations like Ford and Proctor & Gamble, whose scholarship sent him to Princeton.

John returned to the United States as his heart issues worsened and lived in the home of his late parents on a slim Social Security pension and family assistance. A biography of John in Mandarin and English versions by former students is in the works.

John lived a life of service with an unshakable commitment to his religious faith.