FREDERICK SCHAB

1924 - 2020

SCHAB--Frederick G., died May 14 at his home in Woodstock, NY. The son of William H. Schab and Ada Loewy of Vienna, he was born in 1924 in Lucerne, where his father had founded a branch of his Viennese firm, Gilhofer und Ranschburg. The firm dealt in rare books, illuminated manuscripts, prints and drawings. The family moved back to Vienna in 1926. Frederick was educated at the Doeblinger Gymnasium and the Institut auf dem Rosenberg. Following the Anschluss, the family fled to Switzerland and then moved to New York, where his father founded the William H. Schab Gallery. In New York, Frederick studied at Fieldston, Columbia University and the NYU Institute of Fine Arts. His research on Giovanni Battista Falda under professors Richard Krautheimer, Walter Friedlaender, and Karl Lehmann was conducted at the Vatican Libraries. In the early 1950s, Frederick joined his father's gallery to deal in prints, drawings, and books. He continued his work until 2016. Frederick and his father helped build the collections of prints, drawings, and rare books at the National Gallery, the Cleveland Museum, the Boston Museum of Fine Arts, the National Gallery of Canada, the Library of Congress, the Metropolitan Museum, the Morgan Library, the Yale Art Museum and Beinecke Rare Book Library, the Getty Museum, and many other museums and libraries around the world. Instrumental in assembling the private collections of Lessing Rosenwald, Ian Woodner, Norton Simon, Arthur Ross, and Georg Schaefer, he was particularly proud that these collections are now on public view. Frederick is survived by his wife of 30 years, Margery Stein Schab; his daughters, Lesley Schab Korzennik and Jennifer Schab; his son, Dr. David Schab; his former wife, Margo Pollins Schab; and five grandchildren on whom he doted. His beloved sister, Frances, died at 97 two years ago. Frederick's passion for mountaineering, gardening, opera, and skiing was infectious. His family and friends will remember him for his humor, his curiosity, his gift for storytelling, and for being a marvelously enchanting tour guide of Europe. The family asks that memorial donations be directed to the Institute of Fine Arts, NYU.