Eric Schmidt, 74, a resident of The Sea Ranch, CA, died on June 23 at John Muir Medical Center in Walnut Creek, CA due to complications from glioblastoma, an aggressive brain cancer.
Eric was born in New Haven, Connecticut, in 1951 to Paul F. Schmidt and Rebecca J. Kennedy. In his early years Eric resided in Oberlin, Ohio where his father taught Philosophy at Oberlin College. At 10 years old, Eric was honored by the Appalachian Mountain Club as the youngest person to climb all 4,000-foot peaks in New Hampshire. As a conscientious objector to the Vietnam War, Eric worked with the American Friends Service Committee on construction projects in Kingston, Jamaica and Fresno, California while studying landscape architecture at the University of Oregon. In 1981, Eric received a master’s degree in architecture from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology and was awarded the Alpha Rho Chi Medal for leadership and service. Eric worked for Lawrence Halprin & Associates, Jones & Jones Architects and Landscape Architects, and the City of Boston before founding his own firm, Cascade Design Collaborative, in 1995. When he retired in 2018, Eric had worked for 46 years and received 24 National Planning and Design Awards for a variety of street, transit, zoning, master planning, and urban design projects.
When not working, Eric enjoyed a multitude of outdoor activities and was planning his eighth trip through the Colorado River in the Grand Canyon. Eric was preceded in death by his father, mother, and siblings, Karl and Ileene Schmidt. He is survived by his wife, Denise García and their daughter Lina; brother Lawrence Schmidt (Monika Reuss) and sister Hilary Gilford (Cono DiZeo); as well as his aunt Mary Cochran; his nieces and nephew Kassandra, Giuseppa, and Nathan; and numerous cousins.
Eric’s celebration of life is on Saturday, September 13 at noon at Chapel of the Chimes in Oakland, CA. To share memories of Eric, please visit: https://oakland.chapelofthechimes.com/obituaries/eric-schmidt-7/obituary
Donations in Eric’s memory can be made to:
American Friends Service Committee: https://afsc.org
AFSC is a Quaker organization with over 100 years of experience developing peace in communities in the U.S. and around the globe.
The Freedom Archives: https://freedomarchives.org/donation/
The Freedom Archivesis a non-profit educational archive located in Berkeley, CA dedicated to the preservation and dissemination of historical audio, video and print materials documenting progressive movements and social justice work.
