John Jacob Schmitt

Mass to celebrate John’s life will be held at Three Holy Women Parish-St. Hedwig Church (1702 N. Humboldt Ave., Milwaukee WI 53202) at 2pm Friday June 25th.

“A good man goes to meet his God”

–from Cinema Paradiso, as reflected upon by Rev. John R. Donahue. S.J.

John Jacob Schmitt, Ph.D., 83, associate professor emeritus of theology at Marquette University, died May 21, 2021, after a brief illness.

John was the beloved husband of Bobbie O’Hara Schmitt for more than 53 years, the loving father of Maria-Kristina Schmitt, of Wauwatosa, WI, and Tara Elizabeth Schmitt, of Shaker Heights, OH, and the adored Morfar of Ian Patrick and Trevor Nathaniel Schmitt-Ernst and Julia Grace and Catherine Lily Schmitt-Palumbo.

A biblical scholar who earned his Ph.D. from the University of Chicago in 1977 and was a Fulbright Scholar at Uppsala University in Sweden in 1968-1969, John was so much more: a Trappist-Cistercian monk, a bus driver for the Chicago Transit Authority, a member of the Milwaukee Choristers, and a valued teacher of generations of Marquette University students for more than 30 years.

John was a lover of words and languages, from the biblical to Italian.  His well-thumbed Oxford English Dictionary made him a formidable Boggle foe, largely due to invented words that he would delight in defending.

A close second was John’s love of music, from Bach’s Mass to the musical Hair. John shared his love of music–and life–with everyone around him. Daughters and grandchildren were often reminded to “Always take time to laugh,” which would be accompanied by spontaneous, but genuine, uproarious and infectious laughter.

Most of all, though, he was the lover and partner of his beloved Bobbie whom he married on July 8, 1967.  They celebrated their 50^th anniversary in Chicago, where they had made their first home, surrounded by family and music (“Hamilton”), the touchstones of their lives together.

Before teaching at Marquette, John taught at St. Bonaventure’s University in Olean, N.Y.  He was an NEH Humanities Summer Seminar awardee in 1978 and was a visiting lecturer at Sheffield University in 1991.  He published more than 20 scholarly articles and chapters in books.  He was the author of Isaiah and His Interpreters.

In addition to his biblical scholarship and teaching, John was active in promoting interfaith understanding and relations, writing the article, “Church must affirm Islam as well as Judaism,” in the January 16, 2004, National Catholic Reporter.  He also had a long-standing interest in monastic traditions, most recently spending 14 years bringing the first English translation of the Libellus to eventual publication in 2016, the work a call for reform of the Renaissance church by two Camaldolese hermits.

“He had a most wonderful sense of humor and irony,” remembered the biblical scholar John R. Donahue, S.J., who began divinity school with John, and that sense of humor and irony stayed with him in his scholarship and life as all who met him would attest.

In his younger years, he was fond of doing headstands, explaining that in addition to the health benefits, they sometimes provided a needed perspective.

A resident of St. John’s on the Lake, John could be found during the pandemic getting his regular exercise by walking through the halls, and he continued to lead a group reflecting on the Sunday readings with a small stack of his well-worn commentaries at the ready.

John was preceded in death by his father, Silvester; mother, Frances; brother, Robert; and sister, Ann Gotzler.

In addition to Bobbie, Maria, Tara, Ian, Trevor, Julia and Catherine, he is survived by his son-in-law, Jarrett Ernst, former son-in-law, Chris Palumbo, and nieces and nephews, Karen, Steve, John, Tom, Donna (Goetze), Mike and Amy Gotzler, and many grandnieces and grandnephews.

A Mass to celebrate John’s life will be held at Three Holy Women Parish – St. Hedwig Church 1702 N. Humboldt Ave Milwaukee, WI 53202, at 2:00 pm on Friday, June 25^th.

In lieu of flowers, the family suggests donations to The Milwaukee Choristers or an arts organization of your choice.