In Memory: Col. Henry D. Schreiber

Col. Henry D. Schreiber, Ph.D., a longtime chemistry professor who spent his entire professional career at VMI and taught and mentored hundreds of cadets, died Feb. 15, 2025. He was 76.

After graduating from Lebanon Valley College, he attended the University of Wisconsin–Madison and received his Ph.D. in physical chemistry in 1976. He joined the Institute’s chemistry department in summer 1976 as an assistant professor, commencing a career that lasted 38 years.

Schreiber taught various courses at all levels, including rat chemistry to liberal arts majors. Whatever courses he taught, he saw them, as one obituary stated, as opportunities “to share his love of chemistry and research with many cadets.”

His departmental colleagues valued his insights and advice, especially when he served as department head for 5 years. Faculty members outside the chemistry department liked and respected him, as well. Col. Wade Bell, Ph.D., former head of the biology department, said, “Henry was special because he generated so much goodwill. We shared more than a few stressful professional situations. Henry always remained calm, and people looked to him for answers. He was fair and truly a people person. … I don’t think I ever met a person [who] didn’t think highly of him.”

Bell’s description of Schreiber as “an excellent scientist with a broad range of interests” is borne out by the fact he published more than 130 research papers during his career within the fields of glass, ceramics, and horticultural chemistry. Such was his reputation as a teacher and researcher that he received the Virginia State Council on Higher Education’s Outstanding Faculty Award in 2002.

More than a generation of cadets remembers him as a research advisor and mentor, as well as a kind and generous man who opened his home to hundreds of cadets. Col. Dan Harrison ’05, Ph.D., who returned to VMI to teach in 2013 and is now a full professor of chemistry, recalls, “Henry Schreiber was more than the department head and an instructor in general chemistry and physical chemistry; he was a safe place at VMI.”

As an example, Harrison cites his frequent visits to Schreiber’s farm. “I did undergraduate research at VMI during the summers. Most days, I would put in my 8 hours in the lab during the day and then, with other cadets, head to his farm. We would arrive at his house and get our marching orders from Charlotte for jobs large and small, including painting his pole barns, building his riding ring, tarring the riding ring, cultivating his hydrangeas, and throwing hay bales. On top of our pay, Henry and Charlotte would prepare two to three huge main course dishes and a large dessert. We always took a long time to leave because it was hard to move after eating all that food! To top it off, on the way out, he would pop out ice cream for another round. Also, the company was good, and it was difficult to stop snuggling with a Scottie dog.”

Harrison also credits Schreiber with setting him on the path to marriage. “On a particularly humid day, we had loaded his pole barn with several hundred bales of hay. I felt macho after having done that and consequently felt bold enough to go to a Washington and Lee summer party. It was at that party I met my wife. So, working for Henry was clearly life altering.”

Justin Wood ’00 also was a chemistry major Schreiber guided in research. His recollections are much like Harrison’s, combining his admiration for Schreiber as a teacher and his gratitude for him as someone who cared for cadets. “For many of us,” Wood recalled, “he was much more than a professor. Colonel Schreiber was a mentor and a friend. … In addition to teaching me about chemistry, he taught me about life and what it meant to be a dedicated husband and loyal friend.”

Of course, Schreiber was primarily a teacher. Bell recalls, “Henry worked with a variety of students, and they always enjoyed his guidance.” Harrison pointed out his “clever and elegant way of communicating complex ideas and solving problems. For example, in the time before the ubiquity of Google, he showed us how to build a riding ring with perfect semicircular ends using a string and a stick. In the same way, he was talented at making extremely complex chemistry ideas attainable. These types of ‘Henry Things’ inspired me to always look for clever ways to solve complex problems, especially in graduate school.”

Stanton Smith, Ph.D., current chemistry department head, said of Schreiber, “Henry was such a great person and so humble; you would never know he was a world-class researcher, scientist, and scholar. I am grateful that he was the department head of chemistry when I came on board in 1999. He was an outstanding person to look up to and a wonderful role model.”

With such talents as a teacher, scientist, and mentor—and his unwavering commitment to cadets—it is hardly surprising that he received numerous awards during his nearly four decades at VMI. Besides the award from SCHEV, Schreiber received the Matthew Fontaine Maury Research Award and the Wilbur S. Hinman Research Award four times each. The Institute presented him with its Distinguished Teaching Award in 1994, and he held the Beverly M. Read ’41 Institute Professorship from 2003 until his retirement in 2014. Upon his retirement, the Institute recognized his many contributions by presenting him its Meritorious Service Medal.

While Schreiber is rightly remembered for his many achievements and his devotion to the welfare of cadets, colleagues and cadets alike remember most fondly his personal warmth. “Everything, and I mean everything,” remembered Harrison, “that Henry said was accompanied by an infectious smile and that bubbly laugh.”

Schreiber is survived by his second wife, Helen Irvine; three daughters; six grandchildren; and two great-grandchildren, as well as a brother and a sister. A brother and Schreiber’s first wife, Charlotte W. Schreiber, predeceased him.