John Schoen

John Ellsworth Schoen was born on December 18, 1943 in Cedar Rapids, Iowa. He passed away on August 21, 2023 in Waco, Texas. Visitation for John will be 10 A.M., Sunday, August 27, 2023 At OakCrest Funeral Home Chapel with Memorial Service to follow at 11 A.M.

He was the only child of John William Schoen and Mabel Louise (Gottburg) Schoen.

The family moved from Cedar Rapids to Albuquerque, New Mexico where John graduated from Highland High School in 1961. At the urging of his father, John then entered the New Mexico Military Institute. It soon became obvious that John’s entrepreneurial spirit was not a natural fit at a Military Institute and so the Institute and John were both delighted when he transferred to Baylor University after one year.

John graduated from Baylor in 1965 with a BBA. During the last semester of his senior year, John became enamored of Patricia Jeanne Hencke of Dallas, Texas. Despite John almost driving Pat’s beloved 1964 Mustang into a lake, the fair Patricia agreed to marry him and they were betrothed on August 31, 1965 at First Presbyterian Church of Dallas, Texas. So began a 56-year love affair! John absolutely loved the high spirit of Pat who had once climbed a 300 foot radio tower in her home town and, as a telephone operator, had listened to Ray Charles whisper sweet nothings in his girlfriend’s ear.

Before John and Pat returned to Waco permanently, he earned a Master’s in Logistics and Distribution Management at Arizona State in Tempe. He also worked on a doctorate at the University of Missouri just before taking a position at Baylor in the Management Department.

During the past 40 years, John worked in the varied roles of entrepreneur, consultant, and college professor. He was an owner-manager of several distribution businesses including construction and farm equipment in New Mexico and Texas. John was also involved in a partnership involving specialty building materials in Texas, California, Arizona and Colorado. He participated in numerous professional development programs and authored more than thirty articles in academic and practitioner journals in the areas of family business, entrepreneurship, and profit and cash flow planning.

Those who knew John the best would agree that he most thoroughly enjoyed his work as a gifted lecturer and story teller at Texas A&M, SMU, and Baylor. At Texas A&M, he was a Senior Lecturer in the Department of Engineering Technology and Industrial Distribution and was also Co-Director of the Texas A&M Family and Owner-Managed Business program.

At Baylor, John was the Founding Director of Baylor University’s Center for Entrepreneurship, Co-Founder of the Institute for Family Business, and Baylor’s first Family Business Executive-in-Residence and an Adjunct Lecturer in the Department of Management and Entrepreneurship.

John is survived by his two children, John William Schoen of Waco and Laura Ann Schoen of Silver City, New Mexico. John was preceded in death by his parents and his wife, Pat.