LONG LAKE – William Henry Schroeder, 82, of Long Lake, founder and former publisher of Lakeland Newspapers of Lake County, died Dec. 17 at Advocate Good Shepherd Hospital in Barrington.
William was the beloved husband of Nancy for almost 50 years; loving father of William (Lisa), Jill (Bill) McDermott, Karen (Jim) Miller and Robert (Elise); devoted grandfather of Erika, John, Alexandra, Nicole, Thomas, Caroline, Marshall and William; and cherished brother of Robert (Elizabeth). He is preceded in death by his mother and father, Lydia and Marshall.
Visitation will take place from 3 to 8 p.m. Thursday, Dec. 22, at Ringa Funeral Home in Lake Villa. The funeral service will take place at 10 a.m. at Ringa Funeral Home.
Schroeder graduated from the University of Illinois-Urbana and was a staff sergeant in the Army during the Korean War. Along with his father, Marshall R. Schroeder, William founded Lakeland Newspapers in 1956 and was a charter member of the Suburban Press Foundation (SPF), predecessor to Suburban Newspapers of America (SNA). He was president of Illinois Press Association (IPA). He organized and began the Illinois Press Foundation (IPF), a committee comprised of former IPA past presidents who helped solidify the organization in the area of endowments and support services for the newspaper industry.
Schroeder was recognized for numerous journalism awards and accomplishments during his 55-year newspaper career, including winning the Illinois Press Association's "Best in State" newspapers honors three times, and the 2002 CHINFO award for the best military newspaper in the world. He helped locate and finance the Illinois Press Association's headquarters in Springfield and was the winner of 2003 SNA Dean Lescher national award for lifetime journalism achievements.
Community involvement was paramount in his life, as Schroeder was active in many Lake County chambers of commerce, the Navy League, Illinois Press Foundation Board of Directors, historian of the Lake County Fair, the Red Cross, past commodore and judge of the Long Lake Yacht Club and involved in Illinois Press Association and Suburban Newspapers of America. He also served on the boards of Advocate Condell Medical Center, Fox Lake State Bank and Carmel Catholic High School. His favorite hobbies were gardening, boating, reading and music. William also was a lifelong Cubs fan.
Early on, Schroeder thought his future would be in agriculture, getting a start from working on his family's farm in Half Day during the Great Depression. He loved the work and his efforts were rewarded by winning grand champion at the Lake County Fair while showing his Holstein cow.
But while going to school, his introduction to writing fascinated him and so his career path in journalism began at the age of 12, by producing a four-page newspaper for his grade school by hand, including drawing cartoons. He then would take the completed stories and have copies made for his classmates. This taste of reporting led to a lifelong passion, which saw him become more serious as he was selected as editor of the Libertyville High School newspaper. He quickly learned the "nuts and bolts" of a news operation and even worked part time for his hometown weekly newspaper, the Independent Register, in Libertyville.
After high school, at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign. During his freshman year, he joined the Daily Illini as a staff reporter working with the likes of future syndicated columnist Bob Novak, ABC television news chief Hal Bruno and legendary film critic Gene Shalit. There, he learned the ropes of the newspaper business and was eager to "scoop" the competing dailies on stories.
His experience allowed him to land a "real" job the following year with the Champaign-Urbana Courier. At the Courier, he held the position of sports copy editor, responsible for editing, page design and covering a high school sports beat. After managing the challenges of working a seven-day job on a daily newspaper, moving on as a staff sargeant in the Army and editing the weekly newspaper at Fort Bliss, Texas, during the Korean War was a breeze.
Bill then planted his professional roots in Lake County, landing a position with the daily Waukegan News-Sun as a general assignment reporter. After working for three years, Bill had discussions with his father, Marshall R. Schroeder, who was the business manager at the Libertyville Independent Register, about entering the newspaper-publishing world. He helped convince his father into selling the Half Day farm in order to buy the newspaper group.
"I believe we were among the first newspaper groups in the country that 'zoned' news and advertising," Schroeder once said. Other Chicago area publishers began "grouping" their sales and sharing editorial concepts among neighboring communities to maximize operating efficiencies. This trend started to spread nationally, as Schroeder decided to be a charter member in forming the original board of directors of the SPF, predecessor to SNA. He also focused more of his time on the Illinois Press Association IPA, following in his father's footsteps in becoming the president of the organization in 1980, the largest state newspaper group in the country.
Some of his prouder newspaper accomplishments include reporting the Hebron High School state basketball championship team, the columns written in support of keeping Naval Station Great Lakes open, the support for opening Condell and Good Shepherd hospitals, support for the establishment of Lake Michigan water to western Lake County communities and the established of the annual M.R. Schroeder/Lakeland Newspapers scholarship at the College of Lake County.
During his college years, Schroeder joined Acacia Fraternity, worked weekend nights playing piano in his band to help pay for tuition and joined the Marching Illini band. Schroeder once lamented: "Wouldn't you know it, the one year (1952) that I don't join the band the football team wins the Big Ten and I miss playing in the Rose Bowl!"
In lieu of flowers, donations can be made to the American Heart Association 208 S. LaSalle St., Suite 1500, Chicago, IL 60604, www.heart.org; or The Leukemia & Lymphoma Society, P.O. Box 4072 Pittsfield, MA 01202, www.lls.org/il; in William's name.