Jack D. Schaeffer

Jack D. Schaeffer headed Procter & Gamble's International Patent Division in the mid-1970s, which meant moving his family from Cincinnati to Brussels, Belgium.

The family lived in a hotel for a time, where Mr. Schaeffer's two young sons, Eric and Craig, discovered perks such as the ready availability of ice cream sundaes.

Every day, though, they'd see their father sorting through the family's food receipts, "making sure we weren't taking advantage of Procter & Gamble, since they were picking up the expenses for us," said Eric Schaeffer. "He put us on a one-a-day rationing."

And in the process, he taught a valuable lesson to his children.

"He was a man of immense integrity," said Eric Schaeffer, who lives in Houston and is one of Mr. Schaeffer's five surviving children. A sixth child, a son, died in a car crash before the family moved to Brussels.

Mr. Schaeffer, a patent lawyer for P&G for more than 30 years and a longtime resident of Greater Cincinnati, died of brain cancer Aug. 10 at his home in Payson, Ariz., where he and his wife, Charlotte, lived in retirement. He was 79.

He grew up in Eagle Grove, Iowa, and after his parents' divorce, was raised by his grandmother, Eric Schaeffer said.

Mr. Schaeffer "came from a very impoverished environment...and worked his way through college," said son Craig Schaeffer, of West Chester Township.

He attended the University of Minnesota for a year, then transferred to the University of Iowa, where he earned degrees in chemistry, political science and law. Scholarships and money from a job as a hospital lab technician got him through school.

By the time P&G hired him straight out of law school, he had married and started a family. During his years in Greater Cincinnati he lived in Greenhills, Wyoming and Mount Adams.

Over the years, he worked on patents for a number of P&G products, including Crest toothpaste. He had opportunities to go into private practice, but he stuck with Procter. "He loved that company," Eric Schaeffer said.

"My dad earned everything he got in life," he said. "He was given nothing."

Although Mr. Schaeffer made a good living and supported his family, "He wanted us to learn what it was to earn a buck the hard way," Eric Schaeffer said.

For Eric, who like his father became a lawyer, that meant helping pay for his own schooling by working for a moving company.

In addition to sons Craig and Eric, Mr. Schaeffer's survivors include his wife, Charlotte Schaeffer of Payson, Ariz.; daughters Wendy Schaeffer of Redwood City, Calif.; Lynn Meeks of Blacklick, Ohio; and Amy Moore of Cincinnati; 12 grandchildren and four great-grandchildren.

Visitation is 1 p.m. Wednesday at Arlington Memorial Gardens Mausoleum Chapel, 2145 Compton Road, Springfield Township. The funeral service follows at 2 p.m.

Memorials: Payson Rehab/Payson Fire Department, 400 W. Main St., Payson, AZ 85541; Hospice Compassus, 511 S. Mud Springs Road, Payson, AZ 85541; or Mayo Clinic Arizona, in honor of Dr. Joseph Mikhael, 13400 E. Shea Blvd., Scottsdale, AZ 85259.

Written by John Johnston | jjohnston@enquirer.com