Robert S. Schaeffer Of Wainscott Dies November 17

Robert Stephen Schaeffer, a former member and vice-chairman of the East Hampton Town Planning Board, a managing editor of the East Hampton Star, and co-chairman of the town Democratic committee, died November 17 at Southampton Hospital. Mr. Schaeffer had battled cancer for five years. The longtime Wainscott resident was 76.

Called Bob by his many friends, Mr. Schaeffer was known as much for his community service as for his affability, courtesy, and impish humor. A cultivator of friendships that crossed class and political divides, Mr. Schaeffer delighted in bringing together blue-collar workers and blue bloods, Democrats and Republicans, farmers and financiers, and conversing with them on all manner of subjects.

“Bob was an Algonquin round table; he attracted so many people and really cherished friendships,” said Rebecca Chapman, a philanthropy advisor whom Mr. Schaeffer befriended on the Hampton Jitney. She recalled sitting alone in the back, perusing an auction catalog, when, in typical fashion, Mr. Schaeffer walked the entire length of the otherwise empty bus to politely ask if he could sit with her. They disembarked as pals and remained close for 22 years until his death.

“He could talk to everybody and liked everybody and found the good in everybody,” Ms. Chapman said.

Over the years Mr. Schaeffer could be found most late afternoons at what was then Nichol’s tavern and more recently at Bobby Van’s or the Highway Restaurant, always encircled by a half dozen or more chums. “He was a good friend and they were good to him too,” she added. “They would do anything for each other.”

As he did with Ms. Chapman, Mr. Schaeffer went out of his way to introduce himself to Peter Honerkamp. An owner of the Stephen Talkhouse nightclub, a writer, and co-founder of the Wounded Warrior Project, Mr. Honerkamp went to the Highway one afternoon about four years ago to do some research on his laptop and have a drink. “I wanted to be alone, where no one knew me,” he said. But he wasn’t there long before the gentle, easygoing Mr. Schaeffer drew him into the circle of friends.

“People were drawn to him because, when you spoke to Bob, he was listening,” said Mr. Honerkamp. “He would remember things people said to him, would work that into later conversations, and he was very good at spreading the compliments around. He made everyone feel important.” He added: “He knew a lot about a lot of things. And things that interested him, like the British royal family, he knew everything.”

Once spreading cancer and the Covid-19 pandemic combined to confine Mr. Schaeffer to his home in Wainscott, it became the gathering place. One friend delivered his mail and a box of chocolates. Others came to discuss the news, books, or tennis. A few more popped in at 7 pm to participate in his longstanding ritual of watching the game show “Jeopardy.”

Mr. Schaeffer’s intellectual curiosity remained keen even as he grew weaker. When a friend made passing mention of a New Yorker article by Masha Gessen, Mr. Schaeffer immediately bought two copies of the Russian-American journalist’s latest book — one for himself and the other for his friend.

Born April 3, 1944 in Warren, Pennsylvania, he was adopted days later by Lee Martin Schaeffer, an electrical contractor, and Imogene Reynolds Schaeffer, a homemaker. He joined a brother, Tom Schaeffer, who was four and a half years his elder. While attending Washington and Lee University in Virginia, working toward a degree in literature, Mr. Schaeffer spent semesters studying at Freie Universität in Berlin and the Sorbonne in Paris. Soon after graduating from college in June 1966, he married Rita Childers.

One month later he enlisted in the U.S. Army and completed the Army’s Artillery and Missile School at Fort Sill in Oklahoma. The following year, he completed Officer Training School there as well. He was trained as a field artillery operator, a maps draftsman, an intelligence assistant, and in chemical, biological and radiological defense. Lt. Schaeffer earned the Army Commendation Medal, National Defense Service Medal, Good Conduct Medal, and a Sharpshooter Medal. He was honorably discharged in 1969.

Pursuing a career in the travel industry Mr. Schaeffer was associated with the world’s most prestigious publications, advertising agencies, and hotel groups, at a time when the industry was flush and flourishing. He began as a managing and contributing editor to various trade- and airline-magazine publishers, then was an account supervisor at the Burson-Marsteller ad agency, representing the Indian government’s tourist office and the Mandarin International Hotel Group. In his international travels Mr. Schaeffer also represented major industrial clients, among them Gulf Oil, Pitney Bowes, and Bethlehem Steel.

He became the marketing director of The Leading Hotels of the World in 1981. For six years, he helped champion the company’s expansion to some 200 first-class establishments on five continents. Journalists who covered the many promotional affairs he organized in Europe, Asia, and the U.S. as well as hoteliers and industry executives often remarked publicly on how agreeable and unflappable he was. “Reaching the executive level allowed him to travel all over the globe,” said David Doty, a longtime friend and now a digital advertising consultant and columnist for Forbes.com. “Bob was well known in that world. He had a lot of friends, knew all the top travel writers and editors at the glossiest publications, He was an influential person, part of the innermost circle.”

In the mid-1970s, Mr. Schaeffer befriended Frederick Rutledge Smith, a well-known magazine writer and editor. Two decades before, Mr. Smith had created the first swimsuit edition of Sports Illustrated, where he was a founding editor. Southern-born and bred, an adventurer and world traveler, Mr. Smith flew an open-cockpit biplane in the Army Air Corp, skied in Switzerland with Jean-Claude Killy, dined in Paris with Coco Chanel, and supervised photo shoots with Peter Beard and some of the models made famous by the swimsuit edition, among them Christie Brinkley.

After Mr. Schaeffer and Ms. Childers were divorced in 1976, he and Mr. Smith became close. Not only did they move in the same professional circles, but they were neighbors in the city and both spent time in East Hampton. Eventually, Mr. Schaeffer was spending weekends and summers at Mr. Smith’s house in Wainscott. The couple began to enjoy a posh and active life, which included frequent travels and tennis as well as skiing.

“We also teamed up to play doubles every Saturday on Sydney Butchkes’ court in Sagaponack,” wrote Mr. Smith in his 2009 memoir, referring to the artist. “Every March, Bob had to go to the World Travel Market in Berlin and afterwards I would meet him for a week or two of skiing in Wengen, Gstaad, Zermatt or Courchevel.”

In 1987, when Mr. Smith was president of East/West Inflight Magazine Network, Mr. Schaeffer came on as vice-president for sales and marketing, a position he held for six years. By 1995, the couple was living in Wainscott year round, Mr. Smith retired yet freelancing for Ski, Town and Country, and other magazines and Mr. Schaeffer working for a time as a managing editor of the East Hampton Star and later penning a Wainscott column for the East Hampton Press. As travel had been during his working career, community service became the passion of his retirement.

In 2008, he joined the East Hampton Lions Club, throwing himself into its charity efforts, including chairing the annual barbecue and organizing its blood drive. Elected president in 2014 and 2015, Mr. Schaeffer received the Robert Uplinger award in 2016 for his dedication to the club, only the third person to receive it in the club’s 70-year history. He remained active in the club until his death. “Before he was even the president, he was our ambassador,” said Tina Piette, a longtime friend and his successor as club president. “He was always recruiting new members, bringing people together.”

Both he and Mr. Smith volunteered with the Peconic Land Trust, lending their writing and editing skills to historical narratives, catalogs, invitations, and fund-raising and promotional materials.

Mr. Schaeffer also became involved in local politics, joining the town Democratic committee and hosted meet-the-candidates and fund-raising parties. Later, as co-chairman and even after he left the committee, he helped steer many candidates to success at the polls. Later, after control of the town board shifted to Republicans, members of the incoming majority began seeking his friendship and counsel too.

“He was passionate about his causes but he fit in everywhere,” said Ms. Piette, who is active in Republican politics. She added that Mr. Schaeffer often invited her to the Democrats’ annual holiday party and she in turn invited him to the Republican do. “He could go anywhere and everywhere. He transcended every situation -- such a gentleman, and so witty, and fiercely intellectual.”

During the Nov. 17 town board meeting, Peter Van Scoyoc, the town supervisor, recounted Mr. Schaeffer’s long record of service and credited him with encouraging Mr. Van Scoyoc to run for a town board seat in 2011. “He was a friend, a confidant, somebody who care about East Hampton,” said the supervisor.

In 2006, Mr Schaeffer resigned his seat on the Democratic committee to accept an appointment to the town planning board, where he represented Wainscott. He was named the board’s vice-chairman in 2008. In 2010, to the chagrin of Democratic stalwarts, he accepted an offer from the GOP-led town board to serve as acting chairman. He remained a member through the end of 2015. “He worked very hard and Wainscott was well represented through his leadership,” said Councilwoman Sylvia Overby, a Democrat who served on the planning board with Mr. Schaeffer. “He always looked at the applicant’s point of view and at the community’s. And he did it with humor and not any kind of rancor.”

On Dec. 9, 2011, nearly 40 years after they met, Mr. Schaeffer and Mr. Smith, at 67 and 86 respectively, were married at St. Ann’s Episcopal Church in Bridgehampton. Mr. Smith passed away at 93 in December 2018.

Mr. Schaeffer is survived by his brother and sister-in-law, Tom and Barbara Schaeffer of Erie, Pennsylvania, their three children and six grandchildren as well as seven of Mr. Smith’s nieces and nephews and their 13 children. He is also survived by the many friends on the South Fork who considered him family, among them Carole Diederiks Brennan, Rob Aldrich, Andy Babinski, John and Gloria Frazee, Ms. Piette, Julia C. Mead, Aquin Medler, Mr. Honerkamp, Ms. Chapman, Mr. Doty, Thomas J. Clavin, and Doug Kuntz.

Mr. Schaeffer’s remains were cremated. His ashes will be interred at St. Ann’s, in a columbarium designed by Mr. Smith and where Mr. Smith’s ashes were placed as well. Memorial donations to the East Hampton Lions Club (www.easthamptonlionsclub.com) have been suggested in lieu of flowers.