Ruediger (Rudy) Siegfried Schroeer
Ruediger (Rudy) Siegfried Schroeer, 81, of Goleta, California, passed away peacefully on October 16, 2024. He was born on December 11, 1942, in Berlin, Germany, the youngest of five children of Elisabeth (Goldmeier) and Rudi Schroeer. In February 1945 near the end of WWII, when the Eastern Front came uncomfortably close, the family fled to SW Germany. There the family lived in the small farming village of Bernstadt near the city of Ulm on the Danube, where they experienced the end of the war without any fighting. In 1951 Rudy’s father accepted an offer from the US Air Force as an engineer at Wright-Patterson Air Force Base near Dayton, Ohio. The family lived there until 1953 when they were able to buy a house in nearby Enon. All members of his family eventually became citizens.
Rudy started his formal education in the village school in Germany, and eventually graduated from Greenon (Ohio) High School in 1961. He received his Bachelors and Masters degrees from The Ohio State University and his PhD in Psychology in 1974 from the City University of the City of NY. He worked as a psychologist and market researcher in a variety of settings. In 1967 he married Susan Grossman with whom he had two children, Nicole and Lisa Schroeer, and settled in Westchester, NY. After their divorce, he remarried Carol Chirman, and together they moved to Goleta, CA where they lived within blocks of his step-daughter, Julie Bolton(Chirman),husband Keith and children Tess and Millie..
Rudy led an active life. As a young man he was a member of his high school diving team, was a lifeguard, and captain of the Ohio State gymnastics team. Around the house he found satisfaction in completing various home improvement projects and helping his wife in the garden. Rudy was preceded in death by his parents, his sister Almut and brother Dietrich. He is survived by his wife Carol Schroeer, daughters Nicole (Sarah Ellis) Schroeer and Lisa (Michael Gilbert) Schroeer, both of Charlottesville, VA, his brother Juergen (Meredith) Schroeer of Normal, IL, his sister Brigitte Altwicker of New York City, stepdaughter Julie Bolton(Keith) of Goleta, step son Guy Chirman (Laronda), other stepchildren(Mat Chirman, Anne Johnstone, Amy Chirman) and a joyful abundance of grandchildren, cousins, nieces, and nephews. His ease and skill as a father and grandfather was remarkable and memorable; he will fondly be remembered as a loving and fun grandparent.
His daughters say, “He was a great dad – one of the rare adults who genuinely loved to play and was always up for any sort of game. He was an adult that children flocked to because he was curious and interested in the types of things we forget to be interested in as grown ups. Until the very end, he was the kind of man who would play “chicken” in the pool, lead pretend expeditions in the woods, or look at a kid’s found rock and think it was “neat”. He also loved animals, and was friends with all the dogs on his paper route as a child.
Donations may be given to the American Cancer Society. A celebration of life will be held on March 30th, 2025, at a private residence.
