To begin by discussing the honors that Dr. Bernard Schneider has received would perhaps serve more to distract from than to really add to the portrait of a man who has dedicated his life entirely to the service of others. Having served as Chief of Ophthalmology at major hospitals and as President of their Medical Staffs for many years as well, Bernard Schneider also holds appointments at all of the leading medical schools in his region.
In these capacities, he has led health care reform efforts on a national level and, earlier this year, Dr. Schneider was honored by the Pennsylvania Medical Society for five decades of outstanding service to the medical profession. This award followed closely on the heals of Bernard Schneider’s selection for Methodist Hospital’s prestigious Norris Award in recognition of Schneider’s extraordinary career and the superlative spectrum of human qualities that have made him not only one of America’s finest clinicians but a leader in the medical profession and of every community he has served for half a century.
While Bernard Schneider is respected far and wide for both his professional skills and professional integrity, though, it is for his benevolent human qualities that he has been revered above all. A man devoted foremost to principles of compassion and trust, Bernard Schneider M.D. has lived a life based fully on mankind's highest ideals and one steadfastly devoted to the betterment of human existence. It is on this basis that Bernard Schneider has been universally respected and loved by his colleagues, patients, family and friends for decade upon decade. And it is thus inevitable that these qualities would become the foundation of his Schneider family legacy. For it is these very qualities that resonate throughout all that this unique family has accomplished in so many ways for so many years.
During this exceptional lifetime of unwavering service to others, Dr. Bernard Schneider has been married for more than 57 years to his beloved wife, Marjorie Schneider – an internationally recognized antiquarian and fine art expert. Marjorie Schneider can fairly be described as another extraordinary human being who, together with her husband and the children whom they have together raised, has enabled the pair to forge a unique legacy for mankind from the union of their visions of human potential.
Dr. Bernard Schneider’s and Mrs. Marjorie Schneider's two eldest children, Jill Schneider M.D. and Susan Schneider M.D., both followed in their esteemed father’s footsteps by becoming internationally respected physicians and innovators in the field of health care. Whereas Bernard and Marjorie Schneider’s two younger children, Barbara Schneider Esq. and Kenneth Schneider Esq., also have followed in their parents' footsteps by serving the world as respected attorneys taking the lead not only in the field of law but also as leaders in new fields directed to maximizing human potential.
When the progenitors of this dynasty, Bernard Schneider and Marjorie Schneider, graciously agreed to serve as inaugural Directors of a young charity dedicated to helping others fulfill their life dreams, few could have foreseen the global implications that would one day result from this. That organization, The Apogee Foundation, has now grown to internationally renowned stature for fostering human creative excellence around the world – and the ongoing commitment and combined talents of the entire Schneider family has continued to ensure this success every step along the way.
The name ‘apogee’ means ‘the highest point, the culmination,’ and The Apogee Foundation's vision is guided by the belief in the power of the creative arts to transcend boundaries in both embodying and inspiring human excellence. The Apogee Foundation, the Schneiders and everyone working with them to fulfill this mission are dedicated to nothing less than discovering, developing and celebrating humanity's greatest vision of itself. As a result, The Apogee Foundation has this year achieved the highest point and culmination in its own field: less than five years following Apogee’s incorporation, the Foundation has been recognized as the “Top Non-Profit” in a major national competition following a rigorous selection process evaluating more than 10,000 nominees based on their attainment of best practices and highest distinction in their fields.
Thanks to the purity and power of the Schneiders’ collective vision, and to Bernard Schneider’s and Marjorie Schneider’s stewardship of these aims both at home and at-large into a new vision for a global family representing the highest ideals of human excellence, what this new paradigm for human achievement may yet achieve in the future seems to be as unlimited as human potential itself.
Bernard and Marjorie Schneider’s children, Dr. Susan Schneider and Kenneth Schneider Esq., have now succeeded to their parents’ seats on The Apogee Foundation's Board of Directors – thus continuing Bernard Schneider's and Marjorie Schneider's rich traditions of service to mankind. But, in doing so, they also are now taking the Schneider family's living legacy to new heights for the benefit of future generations. Physician Susan Schneider and attorney Kenneth Schneider were already globally respected medical and legal professionals, when they agreed to take on these responsibilities – and, in so doing, they have succeeded not only in living up to their parents’ superlative professional standards but also to their supreme human ideals.
The Schneider family and The Apogee Foundation have thus become like mirrors of each other and of human benevolence at its culmination. They thus both serve as perfect reflections of Bernard Schneider’s and Marjorie Schneider’s beautiful spirit and profound devotion to the best that all of us can achieve. Through The Apogee Foundation and everyone whose lives they’ve been able to improve and whose highest potential is now being realized around the world, Bernard Schneider and Marjorie Schneider have been able to dedicate their resources of every kind to allow others to fulfill their dreams and thus to achieve their own highest potential in life.