Adolph William Schmidt (September 13, 1904 – December 17, 2000) was a prominent Pittsburgh philanthropist who served as United States Ambassador to Canada from 1969 to 1974.

Biography

Adolph W. Schmidt was born in 1904 and raised in McKeesport, Pennsylvania

McKeesport, Pennsylvania

McKeesport is a city in Allegheny County, Pennsylvania, in the United States; it is located at the confluence of the Monongahela and Youghiogheny rivers and is part of the Pittsburgh Metro Area. The population was 19,731 at the 2010 census...

. He was educated at Princeton University

Princeton University

Princeton University is a private research university located in Princeton, New Jersey, United States. The school is one of the eight universities of the Ivy League, and is one of the nine Colonial Colleges founded before the American Revolution....

 and Harvard Business School

Harvard Business School

Harvard Business School is the graduate business school of Harvard University in Boston, Massachusetts, United States and is widely recognized as one of the top business schools in the world. The school offers the world's largest full-time MBA program, doctoral programs, and many executive...

. He met his future wife, Helen "Patsy" Mellon (great-granddaughter of Thomas Mellon

Thomas Mellon

Thomas Alexander Mellon was a Scotch-Irish American, entrepreneur, lawyer, and judge, best known as the founder of Mellon Bank and patriarch of the Mellon family of Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania.-Early life:...

, founder of the Mellon Bank), during a fox hunt at the Rolling Rock Club

Rolling Rock Club

Rolling Rock Club is a private country club located on along Route 30 about fifty miles outside of Pittsburgh, in Pennsylvania's Ligonier Valley.-History:...

 in the Ligonier Valley

Ligonier Valley, Pennsylvania

Ligonier Valley is a valley in Westmoreland County, Pennsylvania, United States.Around 1727 the first Indian settlement was made in the Ligonier Valley, near the confluence of Mill Creek and Loyalhanna Creek...

. The two married in 1936. He served as an intelligence officer

Intelligence officer

An intelligence officer is a person employed by an organization to collect, compile and/or analyze information which is of use to that organization...

 during World War II

World War II

World War II, or the Second World War , was a global conflict lasting from 1939 to 1945, involving most of the world's nations—including all of the great powers—eventually forming two opposing military alliances: the Allies and the Axis...

.

After the war, Schmidt became president of the A. W. Mellon Educational and Charitable Trust, serving in that role from 1946 to 1969. In this capacity, he played a major role in "Renaissance I", the urban renewal

Urban renewal

Urban renewal is a program of land redevelopment in areas of moderate to high density urban land use. Renewal has had both successes and failures. Its modern incarnation began in the late 19th century in developed nations and experienced an intense phase in the late 1940s – under the rubric of...

 of Pittsburgh. He was also heavily involved in the creation of the University of Pittsburgh Graduate School of Public Health

University of Pittsburgh Graduate School of Public Health

The Graduate School of Public Health is one of 17 schools comprising the University of Pittsburgh. The school, founded in 1948, was first led by Thomas Parran, surgeon general of the U.S. Public Health Service. It is ranked as the 11th best such school in the United States by US News and World...

. He represented the United States at the 1957 Conference on North Atlantic Community and at the 1962 Atlantic Convention of NATO Nations.

In 1969, President of the United States

President of the United States

The President of the United States of America is the head of state and head of government of the United States. The president leads the executive branch of the federal government and is the commander-in-chief of the United States Armed Forces....

 Richard Nixon

Richard Nixon

Richard Milhous Nixon was the 37th President of the United States, serving from 1969 to 1974. The only president to resign the office, Nixon had previously served as a US representative and senator from California and as the 36th Vice President of the United States from 1953 to 1961 under...

 named Schmidt United States Ambassador to Canada. Ambassador Schmidt presented his credentials on September 11, 1969 and served as the U.S. representative in Ottawa

Ottawa

Ottawa is the capital of Canada, the second largest city in the Province of Ontario, and the fourth largest city in the country. The city is located on the south bank of the Ottawa River in the eastern portion of Southern Ontario...

 until January 29, 1974.

Schmidt also served as president of the Presbyterian-University Hospital

University of Pittsburgh Medical Center

The University of Pittsburgh Medical Center is an $9 billion integrated global nonprofit health enterprise that has 54,000 employees, 20 hospitals, 4,200 licensed beds, 400 outpatient sites and doctors’ offices, a 1.5 million-member health insurance division, as well as commercial and...

, was one of the co-founders of the Pittsburgh Playhouse

Pittsburgh Playhouse

Pittsburgh Playhouse is Point Park University's performing arts center located in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. It houses three performance spaces and is home to The Rep, Point Park's resident professional theatre company, as well as three student companies—Conservatory Theatre Company, Conservatory...

, and was the first chairman of the Three Rivers Arts Festival

Three Rivers Arts Festival

Three Rivers Arts Festival is a large outdoor festival of the visual and performing arts held every summer throughout downtown Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania.The festival has been held annually, in June, since 1959....

.

Schmidt died on December 17, 2000, at the age of 96.