Schmidt, Adolph William, 1904-2000

A financial and foundation executive and native of McKeesport, Pa., Adolph William Schmidt graduated from Princeton University and the Harvard Graduate School of Business Administration. He was Vice President and Governor of T. Mellon and Sons, Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, President of The A.W. Mellon Educational and Charitable Trust, and a Trustee and Treasurer of the Old Dominion Foundation. In World War II, Schmidt served with the Army and OSS in Africa and Europe from 1942 until 1946, and was discharged as Lieutenant Colonel. He was awarded the Bronze Star and two battle stars. Schmidt was Chairman of the Allegheny Conference on Community Development, the organization that sparked much of Pittsburgh's redevelopment program. Schmidt served as an officer of the Urban Redevelopment Authority, the Pittsburgh Regional Planning Association and was a member of the Pennsylvania State Planning Board. The Papers of the Atlantic Union were collected by Adolph William Schmidt, who supported the concept of an Atlantic Union initially proposed by Clarence K. Streit in 1939. After the Axis powers were defeated in WWII, the core concepts of the Atlantic Union idea were eventually adopted by Western leaders, but implemented through the establishment of the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) and the European Coal & Steel Community which evolved into the European Union. A delegate to the Conference on North Atlantic Community in Bruges, Belgium, 1957, and to the Atlantic Congress in London, 1959, Mr. Schmidt and other delegates worked to create and carry out their recommendations for an Atlantic Institute. Schmidt served on the Board of the Institute, and asambassador to Canada under the Nixon Administration.