DALLAS - Jan. 24, 2011 - William A. Schreyer, an emeritus member of the National Football Foundation & College Hall of Fame (NFF) Board, passed away Saturday, January 22 in Princeton, N.J. He was 83.
"We are deeply saddened by the loss of Bill Schreyer," said NFF President & CEO Steven J. Hatchell. "He was a staunch believer in the scholar-athlete ideal and the NFF's mission of building leaders through football. His contributions have played a critical role in expansion of our national scholar-athlete program, and his name will always be prominently featured in our efforts to expand educational opportunities for the student-athletes who play our sport. Our thoughts and prayers are with his family."
Schreyer, the former chairman of Merrill Lynch from 1985 to 1993, led the global financial services corporation as it ascended to its position as the world's largest and most profitable securities underwriter and a leading strategic advisor with offices in 43 countries and total client assets exceeding $1.8 trillion during his tenure. Schreyer joined Merrill Lynch in 1948 as a management trainee and rose through the ranks in a succession of sales, trading, investment banking and management positions during his 45-year career with the company.
"Bill Schreyer was a leader in every sense of the word," said NFF Chairman Archie Manning. "A visionary who rose to the highest levels of global commerce, he saw education as the key to world's future, and he found powerful ways to further educational opportunities for the next generation. I am grateful to have had the opportunity to serve on the NFF Board with him, and he clearly leaves a profound legacy that will never be forgotten."
A member of the NFF Board since 1991, Schreyer took on a leadership in role in the expansion of the NFF National Scholar-Athlete Program in 1997 by becoming one of the first to endow in perpetuity one of the organization's prestigious $18,000 post-graduate scholarships with a $300,000 gift. A 1948 graduate of Pennsylvania State, Schreyer endowed the scholarship in honor of two of his dearest friends, Coach Joe Paterno and the late NFF Chairman William Pearce, and each year the NFF presents the post-graduate scholarship in their honor. In 2010, Stefen Wisniewski, the All-America offensive guard at Pennsylvania State, claimed the award with a 3.91 GPA.
A life-long supporter of education, Schreyer served as a member of the board of trustees at Pennsylvania State and as its chairman from 1993 until 1996. In 1997, the Schreyers endowed The Schreyer Honors College at Pennsylvania State through a gift of $30 million, adding another $25 million commitment in 2006. Creating a model for undergraduate education, the Schreyer Honors College seeks to nurture responsible citizenship and a global concern for the plight of others by actively incorporating international study into its curriculum.
He served as vice chairman of the board of the New York Stock Exchange from 1987 until May 1990, and was a leader of stock exchange delegations to the former Soviet Union and to the People's Republic of China to encourage the development of securities markets there. Among his many other activities, Schreyer was a corporate director, serving on the boards of Schering-Plough, Deere & Co., Callaway Golf and U.K.-based Willis Corroon. In the non-profit sector, he was a trustee and international councilor of the Center for Strategic and International Studies, a bipartisan public policy institute based in Washington, D.C. He also served as a trustee of the George H.W. Bush Presidential Library Foundation, and was a counselor for the Vatican's Patrimony of the Apostolic See.
Born Jan. 13, 1928, in Williamsport, Pa., Schreyer is survived by his wife Joan, and his daughter, DrueAnne Schreyer, a son-in-law, Rodney Frazier, and two grandchildren, Kelly and Charles Frazier. A private service will be held in Princeton, and a memorial service will be planned for the spring. The family asks that, in lieu of flowers, any donations in Schreyer's memory be made to The Schreyer Honors College at Pennsylvania State, in University Park, Pa.; the Center for Strategic and International Studies in Washington, DC; the Princeton HealthCare System, in Princeton, NJ, or Daytop Village, in New York, NY.
