Community mourns passing of Donald J. Schneider

Word comes today (Friday, Jan. 13) of the passing of former Schneider National president and CEO Donald Schneider, who died at 76 after a long battle with Alzheimer’s disease. He is being remembered as a national-caliber visionary in the fields of transportation and logistics, building a relatively small Green Bay-based company into an internationally known enterprise.  Schneider started out as a mechanic and truck driver at the company founded by his father, Al, and advanced to become president in 1976. During Don Schneider’s tenure the company became a coast-to-coast presence with its familiar pumpkin-orange rigs and its leadership in logistics and satellite-based tracking systems.  Schneider was also a prominent civic leader and supporter of local causes. The Green Bay Press-Gazette has a summary of Schneider’s life and career online, click here.

Schneider influence felt at UW-Green Bay
Donald J. Schneider, who died Friday in De Pere, was known nearly as well for community involvement and philanthropy as for steering his family’s trucking business on the road to becoming a Forbes 500 industry leader.  That influence extends to the campus of UW-Green Bay. Schneider’s company — Schneider National — heads the list of private-sector firms employing the most UW-Green Bay alumni (188, at present). He, his family and company have been generous, behind-the-scenes supporters of the University over many years. His late father, Al, was an early and enthusiastic advocate of launching Division I athletics in the early 1980s. A graduate of St. Norbert College, Don Schneider chaired the capital campaign for Notre Dame Academy, the annual campaign for United Way of Brown County, and provided the lead gift for the St. Norbert College athletic complex – Donald J. Schneider Outdoor Athletic Complex – in 2008.  Schneider is survived by his wife, Pat, five children, 13 grandchildren, two great-grandchildren and, as one industry publication described it Friday, “18,222 members of his Schneider National family around the world.” Read more.