By Bryan Gruley
Michael William Schroeder was a son, a brother, a friend, a husband, a father, a grandfather, an uncle, a writer, a journalist, an entrepreneur, a fisherman, a golfer, a tennis player, a chef, and a rabid Penn State football fan. He died unexpectedly on Sunday, May 3, at the age of 74.
He was born to Carl and Margie Schroeder in Helena, Mont., on Valentine’s Day 1952. Schroeder—many people called him simply Schroeder--moved a lot as a boy because of his father’s career at General Motors Corp. Later in life, he would frequently recall Grand Blanc, Mich., as his boyhood home.
It was there in 1964 that he met Scott Mitchell, who would become a lifelong friend. Mike and Scott ran track and played football and basketball together into high school, and Mike lived with Scott’s family for a time when the other Schroeders decamped for another GM posting. Scott, a head taller, once thrashed Schroeder at a game of backyard hoops and Schroeder vowed, “When I’m six-five, I’m not going to let you take a shot.” Alas, he never topped six feet.
He graduated with a bachelor’s degree in English from Western Michigan University in 1974, then went to Penn State University for a master’s degree in English literature. He completed the course work but skipped the final exam after deciding he didn’t want to be a professor.
He met Genevieve Scotti at a party in the Pittsburgh suburb of Upper St. Clair in the summer of 1971. Genevieve recalls that she was interested in another young man until she learned he aspired to become a priest; the clergyman-to-be was kind enough to introduce her to Schroeder. They started dating and were soon inseparable. At one point they spent thirty nights together in a row, and Mike finally asked, “Do you mind if I see my friends?” Gen says, “I thought he was really cute, and we had so much fun together.”
Gen moved to Johnstown, Pa., to work at Bethlehem Steel. Schroeder joined her without a job or a car, but soon landed a spot as the business manager for the Johnstown Symphony Orchestra, where he coordinated events, set up the stage, and played the cymbal—one time. A newspaper editor who happened to be on the symphony board saw Schroeder was bored and, taking pity, invited him to apply for a job at the Johnstown Tribune-Democrat. One of Schroeder’s first assignments was meeting with families who had lost loved ones in the Johnstown Flood of 1977. Writing obits and news stories, Schroeder found a profession he would come to love.
Michael Schroeder
He and Gen married in February of 1976. Gen eventually moved to New York City for a Wall Street job and Schroeder followed shortly after to earn his master’s in journalism at Columbia University. After graduation, he hired on with American Banker and resolved to become an investigative reporter, digging up truths that companies and executives would prefer remained buried.
In 1982, he moved to the Post-Gazette in Pittsburgh, where he and Gen’s children, Laura and Jeffrey, were born. Two years later he joined the business reporting staff of The Detroit News, then embroiled in a vicious newspaper war with the rival Detroit Free Press. At The News, he repeatedly scooped the Free Press and The Wall Street Journal on one of the biggest hostile takeovers of that time, involving Houston’s Coastal Corp. and Detroit’s American Natural Resources Inc. He also co-authored stories showing how a prominent local banker took advantage of his shareholders.
Next was Businessweek magazine, first in Pittsburgh, then in Washington, D.C., where Schroeder established himself as a dogged and sophisticated investigator who produced many a cover story. He had an inordinate capacity for exploring the most complex (and stultifying) business issues, be they accounting, taxes, or evading regulators and the law. “He really loved getting to the bottom of things,” Gen says. “He’d come home all jacked up about some stuff he was working on.” He kept up his muckraking after joining The Wall Street Journal in Washington, where he shared in the Journal’s Pulitzer Prize for coverage of the 9/11 attacks.
A retired Michael Schroeder
The Schroeders became famous in D.C. journalistic circles for hosting succulent dinners at their Bethesda, Md., home. Chef Schroeder would trash their modest kitchen and never serve dinner until the sixth or seventh round of cocktails, no earlier than 9:30 p.m. Which was fine with everybody involved. Anyone who tasted Mike’s sea bass was spoiled for ordering it in a restaurant. He also made a tasty Beef Wellington and pasta with clam sauce, and he always appreciated a good red wine (especially from Costco or Trader Joe’s, because nobody loved a bargain more than Schroeder).
He eventually left the Journal and started a business that performed deep research for hedge funds. It was a big success, and Schroeder continued to have fun uncovering secrets. He and Gen moved to St. Petersburg, Fla., in 2008. After closing his business, Schroeder devoted his time to boating, fishing, trading stocks, tennis, golf, and spending time with his granddaughters Laila and Farrah in Washington, D.C., and siblings in Michigan, California, New York and Pennsylvania.
Family and friends were paramount. Mike was a fiercely loyal pal and brother who carried himself with genuine humility and a generous sense of humor. “He was kind of the character of the family,” says his sister, Theresa Wyant. “He used to say he loved his sisters because we laughed at his jokes.”
Schroeder was predeceased by a grandson, Zain Omar Rahman; a brother, John; his parents; and two brothers-in-law. He is survived by his wife, Genevieve; daughter Laura, her husband, Omar Rahman, and their daughters, Laila and Farrah; son Jeffrey Scotti Schroeder; sisters Martha Schroeder, Theresa Wyant, Anne Slusser; sister-in-law Valary Schroeder; and brother-in-law David Scotti.
A Celebration of Life will be held Friday, June 5, from 2-4 p.m. in the Fourth Estate Room at the National Press Club, 529 14th St NW, Washington, DC 20045. Family, friends, and colleagues are invited to gather in remembrance of a life well lived.
