On Wednesday October 13, 2021, Robert (Bob) F. Schoeni died peacefully in his home from complications of amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS).
Bob was born on April 11, 1964 in Alliance, Ohio to Kenneth and Rita (Edgerton) Schoeni, the youngest of five children. They moved soon after to Bowling Green, where Bob grew up surrounded by his siblings in a family that valued their strong farming roots and shared a devotion to sports.
Bob attended Bowling Green High School, where he played hockey, baseball, and golf and developed a love of learning. The fall of his junior year, he signed up for the science club camping trip, even though it was homecoming weekend. He met Gretchen Spreitzer on that fateful trip, and the two would spend the following forty-one years together, marrying in 1989.
Bob graduated from Bowling Green State University in 1986. He had a propensity for math and practical questions, and went on to study Economics, receiving a Master’s degree from Miami University Ohio in 1987 and a Ph.D. from the University of Michigan in 1992. After completing their graduate studies in Ann Arbor, Bob and Gretchen headed to California. Bob worked as a researcher and professor at the RAND Corporation (1992-2001), where he continued his work on family structure and economic well-being, and began to investigate welfare policy, aging, and the elderly, which would remain a focus for the rest of his career. During that time, he also spent a year in Washington, D.C. as a senior economist at the Council of Economic Advisers under President Bill Clinton (1998-1999).
In 2001, now with two young daughters, Maddie and Sophie, Bob and Gretchen returned to Ann Arbor to be closer to family and to raise their girls in a place that felt like home. Bob worked for twenty years at the University of Michigan, with appointments at the Gerald R. Ford School of Public Policy, the Department of Economics in the College of Literature, Science, and the Arts, and both the Survey Research Center and the Population Studies Center at the Institute for Social Research (ISR). Bob was a distinguished scholar in the social science research community, particularly in the areas of population studies, demography, health and aging, survey methodology, and public policy. His curiosity and genuine interest in generating new knowledge to benefit society led him to address a broad set of complex questions about human behavior. He partnered with colleagues across the country and internationally to better understand the family, social support, and health outcomes. He was greatly respected and cherished for his collaborative spirit, his intuitive sense of people and numbers, and his propensity to explore questions across disciplines. He valued mentoring those just beginning their research careers; and he was grounded in his belief that human compassion and the tools of social science could make the world a better place.
Bob took enormous pleasure in his work, but even so, his primary joy was his family. He adored Gretchen and Maddie and Sophie, and the beloved dogs who were integral members of their family over the years. He loved playing sports with his girls, taking in a sunset in northern Michigan, sharing a travel adventure, eating ice cream, taking a walk in the arb, visiting with his family in Ohio or just being at home doing a puzzle or watching a movie. One of Bob’s most satisfying times was the decade he spent coaching the girls’ rec and ed teams in soccer, softball, basketball, and field hockey. He believed in the value of youth sports to help young people develop self-confidence, resilience, good sportsmanship, and a love for team playing, and he was long known to dozens of Ann Arbor girls simply as “Coach Bob.” When Maddie and Sophie moved on to high school and college sports, Bob’s idea of a great day was sitting next to Gretchen in the bleachers watching their games.
In 2008, Bob was diagnosed with ALS and during thirteen years of living with the disease, Bob continuously inspired others with his grace, openness, and determination to live fully and joyfully in the face of challenge. He continued to coach, work, travel, enjoy time with his parents, siblings, and extended family, and bask in family life. When Bob could no longer travel, he took delight in the travel stories of family and friends. When confined to a wheelchair, he put thousands of miles on it, riding around the neighborhood, into town, or heading out to watch a University of Michigan sporting event. When the disease took away Bob’s capacity to speak, he found other ways to connect with people, inquiring about their day, their most recent sports game, or their children or grandchildren.
Bob was community-oriented, generous, and kind, and a humble force with a gift for bringing people together. He valued his church and neighborhood circles, and his connections and conversations with old and new friends. His welcoming spirit inspired people to rally around his diagnosis and create the nonprofit organization Active Against ALS, through which hundreds of people gathered at annual events to grow awareness, raise funds for research, and celebrate life with Bob, Gretchen, and their family.
In addition to Gretchen, Maddie, and Sophie, Bob is survived by his parents Ken and Rita Schoeni of Bowling Green, siblings Gayle Rutter (Craig), Roger Schoeni (Kim), and Sharon Pahl (Scott), brother-in-law Jan Snyder, mother-in-law Elaine Spreitzer, sister-in-law Libby Showalter, 6 nieces and 7 nephews, 24 great nieces and nephews, and many cousins, aunts, and uncles. He was pre-deceased by his sister Linda Snyder, nephew Preston Pahl, and father-in-law Elmer Spreitzer.
A celebration of life will be held on Nov. 26 at 11 am at St. Mary Student Parish in Ann Arbor.
In lieu of flowers, Bob and his family have asked for donations to be made in his memory to Active Against ALS (https://www.activeagainstals.org), The Robert F. Schoeni Research Professorship at ISR (https://isr.umich.edu/giving/current-initiatives/robert-f-schoeni-research-professorship/) or Ann Arbor Rec and Ed sports.
