Philanthropist Pete Schenkel, the quiet pillar of Dallas dies at 89
DALLAS — You may not recognize his name, but for decades, Pete Schenkel quietly and behind the scenes made major contributions to the city of Dallas.
He died Wednesday at the age of 89.
Schenkel was instrumental in building hospitals, keeping the annual Texas-OU game in Dallas, and even helping police solve countless criminal cases.
When Schenkel was honored last week at the Friends of the Dallas Police's annual banquet as Citizen of the Year, it was a fitting, final living tribute to a man who never wanted attention for his generosity.
"Pete was one of those people that would do anything to help Dallas," said Gerald Turner, the president of Southern Methodist University. "If he believed it was best for Dallas then he was going to be supportive of it."
Schenkel was the former owner of Schepps Dairy. For many decades, city leaders said, he used his business success to help Dallas in more ways than any other individual man before him.
"Dallas is going to be weaker because of Pete—somebody's going to have to come in and pick up what he's done," former Dallas mayor Laura Miller said in a statement. "There's no replacing Pete Schenkel in Dallas. He was the gentle giant in both the business and civic communities. He's the only man I ever knew who never offended a soul."
Schenkel is credited with single-handedly negotiating the agreement in the late 90s to keep the annual Texas-OU game in Dallas during a time when both schools were on the verge of moving the game out of the area.
He was also the driving force behind bringing Methodist Hospital to Oak Cliff and offering premium health care to an underserved region of the city.
But it's public safety where Schenkel may have had his biggest impact.
Schepps Dairy started offering $10,000 rewards to help the Dallas Police Department with unsolved crimes. Those rewards have since exceeded a total of $1.5 million.
"It was a tremendous tool for the police department," said Larry Lewis, a retired Dallas Police Department homicide detective.
Lewis said Schenkel could even be counted to cover rewards that others pledged but failed to deliver on.
"Some private individuals had offered a reward and when we were able to break the case on a specific person's information, the private individuals declined to fund the reward," Lewis said. "But Schepps through Mr. Shenkel readily stepped in and provided the funds that were necessary."
On the eve of the annual day for being thankful, the death of Pete Schenkel has the entire city of Dallas offering a collective "thank you" for leaving behind a legacy of helping others and humility.
"He never forgot that he was from Oak Cliff and you ask him, 'What are you?' He would say, 'I'm a milkman.'"
