David Schaffer

1944 - 2024

Schaffer, David Douglas

David Douglas Schaffer, DVM, PhD, DO, passed away August 8, 2024 at Jackson Hospital following a kidney infection and having survived several debilitating strokes. He was born December 27, 1944 in Hartford, Connecticut. A Memorial service is being held on November 29, 2024 at 11 am at Liberty Presbyterian Church, 7080 Olentangy River Rd, Delaware, OH 43015.

David was preceded in death by his mother, Jane Osborn Schaffer, his father Clarence Elmer Schaffer Jr., and his wife Caroline Brunsman Schaffer. David married Caroline, his high school sweetheart, at the Lutheran Church of Our Savior in Dayton, Ohio on June 22, 1968. Survivors are: his sister Carol Schaffer Hasbrouck (William): brothers-in-law August Brunsman III (Nicole) of Columbus, OH; John Brunsman (wife Susan) of Bellevue, WA; six nieces and nephews Megan Hasbrouck (Schufreider), Lindsey Hasbrouck Steinberg, August Brunsman IV, Angie Brunsman Colbert, Jake Brunsman, and Britten Stark.

Some of David's friends and colleagues fondly called David the Tri-Doctor. David obtained three Doctoral degrees after receiving his BA from Denison University in Ohio in 1967. He received his DVM from Tuskegee University in Alabama in 1971; his PhD in Pharmacology from Loyola University in Chicago in 1980; and his DO from the University of Osteopathic Medicine and Health Sciences in 1993 – followed by his internship at the Medical Center in Columbus, Georgia and his residency training in Psychiatry from the University of Alabama at Birmingham (1997). After finishing residency, he practiced Psychiatry in Montgomery, Alabama for 20+ years.

David achieved these accomplishments despite being told in elementary school that he would never make it in college. In Michelle Obama's books, The Light We Carry and Becoming, Michelle describes how a comment by her high school counselor saying she was not Princeton material stayed in the margins of her mind, but she turned it into fuel by not only graduating from Princeton, but also from Harvard Law School. She states that such hurtful comments can destroy people – or push them to prove them wrong. David chose to prove his teacher wrong!

David enjoyed reading about people, music, politics, medical information, and psychiatric diagnoses. He loved the Beatles and Rodriguez (an American musician from Detroit, Michigan), as well as Carl Sandburg and the Wright Brothers (given his Dayton, Ohio roots). He was kind and wanted to please people – and avoid conflicts. He enjoyed his friends, colleagues, TUCVM classmates, and close neighbors in Tuskegee. His greatest trait was his unconditional acceptance of all people no matter what religion, race, or economic status.

Donations in his memory may be sent to: Tuskegee University, 1200 W. Montgomery Rd. | P.O. Box 1304 | Tuskegee Institute, AL 36087 - attention Office of Development. Checks should be made payable to Tuskegee University and in the memo line, please put Fund # R5658, the Drs. Caroline and David Schaffer Memorial Award.