William J. Schumacher '57

William “Shifty” Schumacher ‘57 passed away in August from multiple myeloma and related complications. He was one of seven Sigma Alpha Epsilon brothers that rowed crew. In 1957, his senior year, his heavyweight 8 was undefeated, and Cornell sent them to the Henley Royal Regatta at Henley-on-Thames to compete for The Grand Challenge Cup for the first time since 1895. Glenn Light and the late George Bullwinkel, both ’58 SAE’s, were spares.

Bill was #5 in the boat, part of the “engine room,” the super strong guys that powered the shell. Each race at Henley involves two boats. Cornell drew a first round bye, and met a determined Russian crew in the semi-finals. The Big Red broke the course record, beating the Russians by 8 seconds (2 boat lengths). Next it met Yale in the final for the third time that year, winning by half a length with a final sprint at 40 strokes a minute, breaking its new Henley record. The unbeaten 1957 Cornell eight were US IRA (Intercollegiate Rowing Association) and Henley Champions. 

He was a member of three Cornell honorary societies; Pros-Ops, the Chem E academic honorary, Aleph Samach for junior men, and Quill & Dagger for senior men. He subsequently received a Ph D in Chemical Engineering from Cornell, and became close to the late John Sargent, SAE ’60, who was also in the Chem E doctoral program.

Shifty met his wife, Amelia, when teaching Chemical Engineering in Argentina with the Peace Corps. He had a distinguished engineering career at SRI International (Stanford Research Institute International).

Please include any memories and stories about Shifty in the comments below.