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George R. Schrader, who served as Dallas city manager for most of the 1970s and played key roles in the development of several city landmarks such as Reunion Tower and the DFW International Airport, died Thursday. He was 89.
Schrader died around 3 a.m. at Baylor Scott & White Medical Center in Plano from complications related to COVID-19, according to Cheryl Ewing Rozes, his stepdaughter. Both he and his wife, Barbara Schrader, were diagnosed with the virus in mid-December.
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His wife remained hospitalized Thursday in Plano with COVID-19. Doctors said George was recovering from the virus about a week after his diagnoses, Ewing Rozes said, but his health later declined, and at some point he also contracted pneumonia, she said.
“He was really looking forward to his 90th birthday in February, but he just never fully recovered,” Ewing Rozes said. He called from the hospital before Christmas hoping he could join the family in drawing names out of a hat of charities to donate to.
She said he received an honorary degree in August from the Texas Woman’s University, where he was a former member of its board of regents.
Schrader was city manager from 1972 to 1981. In addition to Reunion Tower, DFW Airport and the Dallas Arboretum and Botanical Gardens, Schrader planned or helped launch the construction of the current Dallas City Hall, the Dallas Arts District and Reunion Arena, which was razed more than a decade ago, as well as other city projects and initiatives.
“George Schrader was committed to his family, his community and his profession,” said Mary Suhm, who served as Dallas city manager from 2005 to 2013. “His entire life reflected his commitment, and it would be hard to cast your eyes around this city without seeing his impact.”
Born on a farm in Olivet, Kansas, Schrader spent parts of his childhood harvesting potatoes by hand and as a newspaper carrier for the Topeka State Journal, which is now the Topeka Capital-Journal. He earned a political science and economics degree from Baker University in Baldwin City, Kansas in 1953 and a masters in public administration two years later from the University of Kansas.
He held several jobs throughout college such as a janitor, dishwasher and student center director.
Schrader got his start in city government working as an administrative assistant in San Angelo, about 130 miles east of Odessa. He would go on to become the first city manager of Ennis in 1957 and be appointed to the same position in Mesquite in 1959.
He was hired in 1966 as an assistant city manager in Dallas. He was named acting city manager in November 1972 and assumed the role the next month. At the time, Dallas had nearly 900,000 residents and close to 11,800 city employees.
In his final days as city manager, Schrader mentioned that “surviving” was his greatest accomplishment in the role.
“I was glad to have had a part in setting a course that allowed this city to be in a condition that was counter to many other metropolitan areas,” he told The Dallas Morning News.
Schrader said his most “agonizing time” as city manager was in 1973 when police officer Darrell Cain fatally shot Santos Rodriguez, 12, while forcing the boy in the back of a patrol car to engage in Russian roulette to get him to confess to a burglary. He also told The News then that his biggest disappointment was a failed 1978 city bond that was slated to pay for a new art museum, a performing arts center and Town Lake.
In 1981, he left the city and became executive vice president of LDB Corporation, a company that owned businesses in the restaurant and carpet industry.
In 1983, he became the owner of the Schrader Investment Company, and a decade later he became a partner at economic development firm Schrader & Cline LLC.
“Remember to smile and have a good day,” Schrader says on the voicemail message for the company, which he refers to as Schrader Consulting.
He was still running the day-to-day operations of the company until he got sick, said Kristina Smith, Schrader’s executive secretary for 15 years. He’d been working from home for months, at the senior living facility The Tradition-Prestonwood in Far North Dallas, mostly by phone, she said. If he needed to send out documents, he would put them in an envelope and leave them with the concierge, and he would pick up documents the same way.
“If it was safe enough, he would have been in the office every day,” Smith said.
She noted that he was also the member of several boards, including the Methodist Hospitals of Dallas, Boy Scouts of America, Dallas Symphony Association and State Fair of Texas.
Smith said Schrader often wouldn’t mention his accomplishments in conversations with others.
“His passion was the city of Dallas, but he never wanted full credit for anything,” Smith said. “He always said that nothing would have gotten done without everyone who had a hand in it. He thought these were all things he was doing out of his duty to the community.”
Schrader is survived by his wife, their two stepchildren and five grandchildren. He is also survived by a younger brother in Kansas.