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Navigating Harvard

Franz Schneider talks about his life, his experiences
at Harvard, and sailing with Ted Turner

"Even as a graduate of Harvard College," admitted Franz Schneider, ALM '99, "I didn't know about the Harvard Extension School." Twenty-three years after college, Schneider was in a car when he heard an announcement on the radio about the Extension School. "So I owe all my success to Dean Shinagel and good promotion," he laughed.

Franz Schneider, ALM '99

Schneider returned to his alma mater in the early 1990s and became a dedicated student. He did the assigned reading, participated in class discussions, and wrote carefully researched papers. Why such discipline after a more leisurely pace during his undergraduate years? "This time I was paying the tuition," he said.

When Schneider first heard that radio announcement, he was an investment advisor helping a friend raise money to open a gold mine in Alaska. Schneider knew nothing about mining, or gold, but he had just heard of Harvard Extension and thought it might offer a course that would be useful to him. So he enrolled in introductory geology, enjoyed it immensely, obtained financing for the mine, and enrolled again in the spring--this time taking a course about the earth and its resources.

With an emerging interest in assessing risk factors in the environment, Schneider embarked on a mid-career master's program at the Kennedy School of Government. In two years he earned an MPA in the environment and natural resources, focusing on the influences of toxics and related disruptions. With his appetite for academics now whetted, Schneider came back to the Extension School for a course in chemistry. He then enrolled in Mark Greenberg's neuropsychology course, found it distinctly compelling, and decided to continue with Scott Lukas's psychopharmacology course, where he encountered a similarly inspiring experience. At this point, he said he realized, "If I'm going to keep this up, I might as well pursue another degree."

So he did. And at this year's Harvard Commencement, which took place exactly 30 years after his undergraduate Commencement, he was awarded a master's degree with a concentration in psychology. He also received a special honor: his master's thesis on genetics and schizophrenia, supervised by Professor Patricia Deldin, was selected for the Dean's Prize for Outstanding ALM Thesis in the behavioral sciences. In addition, his thesis is being added as a chapter to the third edition of The Comprehensive Handbook of Psychopathology (Henry Adams, editor).

Schneider readily acknowledges that as an undergraduate at the College, he was somewhat less devoted to his studies. Yet he showed early evidence of an entrepreneurial side. During his junior and senior years, he worked on Wall Street as an investment banker. He even lived in New York, commuting to Cambridge on fares supplied by his firm, F. Eberstadt & Co., which hoped to employ him after graduation.

But wait: how did Schneider manage to spend so much time in New York City and still remain a Harvard undergraduate? "I took courses that required papers, not exams, [and] it was no great sacrifice to my education," he said. "They were fine courses, with noted scholars such as John Kenneth Galbraith, David Riesman, George Miller, Crane Brinton, and others," he added. A few months after graduation, Schneider headed for St. Thomas, Virgin Islands, to visit some former classmates. He enjoyed the lifestyle so much that he stayed for two years working as a captain of a charter boat, high school teacher, and manager of a vacation resort.

His adventuresome spirit kept him in the West Indies, where he founded Landfall Navigation, a navigational supply outfit. Later, through a Bermuda-based company, he became a motion picture distributor; he released such films as The Deer Hunter, The Eagle Has Landed, and King Kong. He also produced low-budget films in New York.

But for Schneider, who has been an active sailor all his life, the lure of the sea has always beckoned. Over the years, he has achieved a distinguished record in ocean racing. He has raced across the Atlantic twice: to Copenhagen in 1966--when he began sailing with Ted Turner--and to Spain in 1992; he later became Turner's navigator for seven years until Turner retired from competition. Schneider twice navigated the overall winner in the Miami-Montego Bay race, was once the winner in the Annapolis-Newport race, and three times navigated class winners in Newport-Bermuda races.

In recent years, Schneider has continued recreational sailing. He has also served as Vice President and Senior Trust Officer for the First National Bank of Ipswich and has continued in private practice as a self-employed investment counselor.

As he looked back on his experiences at Harvard, he observed, "I could write a college undergraduate education guide on three schools." Then added, "What's great about Harvard Extension is that everyone has a chance. It's just the opposite of Harvard College, where getting in is the hardest part. The Extension School is a real meritocracy."

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