Harry Joseph Schneider

Harry Joseph Schneider

AGE: 87 • formerly of Belmar

Harry Joseph Schneider was born on March 1, 1925, in New York City, to Jacques and Justine Frenz Schneider. He grew up in the South Bronx, where he attended Public School No. 2 and the Bronx High School of Science. His family moved to Belmar in 1943, shortly after Harry graduated from high school. Harry was accepted into the US Navy V-12 officer training program, graduated Stevens Institute of Technology with a BSc in Mechanical Engineering and was commissioned an Ensign in the U.S. Navy in 1946. He served on the USS Greenwich Bay, the USS Kenneth Whiting and the USS Curtiss. He first returned to civilian life in 1950 and began his engineering career at Public Service Electric and Gas Company in Elizabeth. As a Navy reservist, he was called back to active duty in 1950 at the start of the Korean War. In 1951 on the USS Curtiss, Harry's crew was part of the U.S. Navy support team for a series of 4 nuclear bomb tests conducted at Enewetok Atoll in the Marshall Islands. He later served in the U.S. Navy reserve for 15 years and retired at the rank of Lieutenant Commander. After his second return to civilian life, Harry resumed his engineering career with Stone and Webster, an engineering services company in New York. He married Anne Jacqueline McCabe (Jackie) in 1957. They resided in Plainfield and later in Berkeley Heights, NJ. Harry completed an MBA at New York University, and then worked as a sales engineer at Rockwell Manufacturing, later Rockwell International. His career with Rockwell brought Harry and his young family first to Pittsburgh, then overseas to the Netherlands, and finally to England, where Harry was responsible for Rockwell's sales of industrial gas meters in Africa, Europe and The Middle East. Originally intending to stay only a few years, Harry remained in England, settling in Camberley, Surrey, just west of London, where he and Jackie raised 6 children. In 1980, Harry retired from Rockwell and started his own business, Metretek UK, a franchise of an American company, Markham, which sold instruments to read utility meters remotely. He sold Metretek UK in 1997, and retired at age 72. From 1996 to 2002, Harry cared for his own father, Jacques (formerly of Belmar), at Harry's home in England until Jacques passed away in 2002 at age 106. Harry and his family have always had a strong connection to Belmar and the Jersey Shore, where Harry's and Jackie's parents and extended family have long resided, with annual family visits each summer. His business and family life brought him back to NJ regularly. He was a parishioner at St. Rose R.C. Church in Belmar, and a lifelong member of the Knights of Columbus.

Harry passed away on September 21, 2012 at age 87 at his home in Camberley, England. He is survived by his 6 children, Justine, Kate, Hank (Harry Jr.), and Gillian who reside in England, Jeanne of Red Bank, NJ, and Hilary of Sydney, Australia, and 6 grandsons.

Family and friends will gather from 2 to 4 p.m. and 7 to 9 p.m. Thursday, Oct. 11 at the Reilly Funeral Home, 801 D St., Belmar. A Funeral Mass will be held at 10 a.m. Friday, Oct. 12 at St. Rose Roman Catholic Church, with interment to follow at St. Catharine's Cemetery in Sea Girt.