Thomas C. Schmidt

BRUNSWICK, ME Thomas C. Schmidt died peacefully in Mid Coast Hospital surrounded by his family on Monday, June 18, 2012, from a chronic respiratory illness. He graduated from Princeton University in 1952 and from Virginia Theological Seminary with a M.Div. degree in 1955. He received his Ph.D. in Policy Sciences from the State University of New York at Buffalo in 1970. His lifetime concern for people was manifest in his three professional careers where he served first as a clergyman, then in state government, and finally in international development. From 1955 through 1968 he served in the Episcopal Church. His first post was as chaplain of St. Albans Church Bogotá, Colombia, South America. He and his family left Colombia in 1959 moving back to the States and serving in New London, Conn., and Longmeadow, Mass. In 1965, the family again moved overseas when he worked for the Diocese of Zululand and Swaziland of Southern Africa in a program designed to combat apartheid by opening up communication between black and white members of the diocese. Upon his return from South Africa with support of the Episcopal Church he enrolled in a doctoral program at SUNY Buffalo where he researched inter-organizational policy. He moved to Rhode Island to work in state government as Assistant Commissioner of Education. Rhode Island was at that time experimenting with a major shift in educational policy. In 1973 he was sent on temporary loan to the Governor of Rhode Island to organize the response to the devastating loss of the state's numerous Navy bases. The Board of Regents appointed him Commissioner of Education in 1974. He served in that position for two terms until 1980. He was known for his support of equal educational opportunities for the poor, for those with special needs and the children of immigrants. He moved to Washington, D.C. in 1980, and joined the World Bank in 1983 working for over fourteen years in Pakistan, Bhutan, Nepal and Bangladesh primarily to increase educational opportunities for the very poor and for girls. His work in Bangladesh was the most challenging and valuable of his long professional career resulting in 100% of Bangladeshi children enroll in primary education with girls and boys attending primary school in equal numbers. He moved to Bristol, Maine, in 1993. There he began an unexpected fourth career as a carpenter, renovating an 1860s era farmhouse. He served on the board of CONA, a local peace and justice group. He retired in 2006 after moving to Brunswick, Maine, remaining active as a volunteer for the local food pantry Mid Coast Hunger Prevention Program and energetically exploring the writings of James Joyce. He also explored Quakerism, Buddhism, and Hinduism, which influenced his own spiritual journey. His life's work could be summed up as manifesting a compassionate concern for equity and social justice. He is survived by his wife, Robin Bell Schmidt; his three children from his first marriage to Lucy S. Melvin, Peter F. Schmidt of York, Dru Schmidt-Perkins of Baltimore, Md., and Thos. Schmidt of Pensacola; his stepdaughter, Julia Lee Barclay of New York City, N.Y.; and seven grandchildren. His brother George S. Schmidt of Schenectady, N.Y., and his sister, Josephine Appell of York, also survive him. A memorial service will be held on Sunday, July 1, at 1 p.m. at the Maritime Museum in Bath, Maine. Interment will be held in York later this year. In lieu of flowers, Tom requested that donations of time or money be made to the Mid-Coast Hunger Prevention Program, 84A Union St., Brunswick, ME, 04011 or online at www.mchpp.org