Bob Schaefer was a man of vision. Equally important for Southwest Washington, he was a man of action. Schaefer, whose fingerprints are all over the region, died this week at the age of 91.
During a life of significant public engagement, Schaefer was a Clark County deputy prosecutor, a legislator for eight years, speaker of the house for two years, an attorney in private practice, and a driving force behind multiple community organizations.
For his decades of work both in the spotlight and behind the scenes, Schaefer was honored in 2013 with the Clark County First Citizen Award — an award his widow, Sally, had won in 1984 for her work in education.
As a legislator, Schaefer’s efforts included the acquisition of lands for Battle Ground Lake and Paradise Point state parks. As a community leader, he lobbied for legislation that paved the way for the region’s high-tech industry, helped bring a modern child-care system to the area and supported mentoring programs.
Perhaps most important, Schaefer co-chaired a committee that led to the establishment of Washington State University Vancouver, which opened in 1989. It since has grown into the only four-year college in Southwest Washington, helping to keep promising students in the area and helping to provide local employers with a capable workforce.
“If we were going to replace the lost smokestack industries with new high-tech industries, it would require … a highly regarded research institution,” he once told The Columbian.
WSUV Chancellor Mel Netzhammer said this week: “Every time I met with him, he had very high expectations for WSU Vancouver. We work really hard to meet those expectations.”
Schaefer’s lifetime of work demonstrated a vision for a prosperous Clark County and showed a man who knew how to build that prosperity. It also made him part of a remarkable generation that helped transform and modernize our region.
Schaefer’s death comes less than a year after the death of Al Bauer, also a former legislator and a contemporary of Schaefer’s. Their tireless efforts were evident in recent years when — although then in their late 80s — they worked to develop and promote a plan for replacing the Interstate 5 Bridge.
In the past decade or so, our community also has lost Ed and Dollie Lynch, Ed and Mary Firstenburg, and Val and Dan Ogden. Each, in their own way, helped shape the Clark County we see and enjoy today. Be it through government, business or philanthropy — typically some combination of the three — they set high standards for the leaders who have followed in their footsteps.
In 1970, Clark County had a population of 128,000 — approximately one-quarter of what it is today. A generation of strong community leaders and influencers helped make such growth possible and helped make the region an attractive place to live; their impact can be seen in the numerous public facilities named for them, from recreation centers to parks to employment and education centers.
“Being involved in helping people and seeing your community grow is a very important part of life,” Schaefer told The Columbian in 2013. “If you develop a community and an economy that really cares about people, you’re always proud of that. I think the good Lord asked us to do that here.”
As his wife, Sally, said this week: “He will truly be missed and remembered by his family. He was very much loved.”
