FROM:
Official Site of the Professional Car Society, Inc.
http://www.professionalcarsociety.org/forums/index.php
Gregg D. Merksamer Gregg D. Merksamer is offline
PCS Life Member / PCS Publicity Chairman
Location: Warwick, NY
It is with an extremely heavy heart that I convey the news that longtime Marlton, NJ PCS member and fellow Lincoln fanatic Harvey Schofield passed away 4:30 am this morning, April 30th, 2009, at the hospice of Virtua Hospital in Mt. Holly, NJ. If my calculations are correct, he was 74 years old.
According to an e-mail transmitted earlier tonight by Bill Breitwieser of the Philadelphia Region Lincoln & Continental Owners Club (reached directly at
Breitw6@aol.com), Harvey's Schofield's funeral will take place Friday, May 7th at St. Andrews Methodist Church in Cherry Hill, N.J., which abuts Ponzio's Diner on the eastbound side of Route 70. The family has invited Harvey's friends to attend with their old cars for a well-derserved final display in his honor. Please arrive by 10 AM, one hour prior to the 11 AM start of the service, if you plan on displaying a vehicle. The services are expected to conclude by 1 PM, though the reception could run later.
Though Harvey's health troubles - starting with 2008 gall bladder surgery that took 40 pounds from his already-lean, 6-foot-3 frame - had given his hobby friends good cause to worry about him over the past couple of years, it was heartening to see that his ailments did not deter him from showing his extremely-rare, standard-wheelbase and short-stretch Lehmann-Peterson Lincolns at the 2008 PCS International in Mt. Laurel, NJ and the Northeast Chapter's 2009 spring show at Peddler's Village in Lahaska, PA.
During the decade that he served as the National Custom Class advisor to the LCOC, Harvey documented about 150 survivors out of the five hundred-or-so L-P Lincolns made from 1964 to 1970; out of this total, only six were built with other than a 34-inch center stretch (if you don't count the 36-inch extensions on the two 1963 prototypes), and Harvey owned three of them! These included a 1967 model 8-inch mini-stretch limousine originally built for John Searle, the CEO of Searle Pharmaceutical in Skokie, IL, "as a 65th birthday present to himself, when he decided he wasn’t going to drive himself through downtown Chicago traffic anymore"; a 1967 8-inch mini-stetch sedan, built WITHOUT a partition for John Fischer, the CEO of Anchor Hocking Glass in Lancaster, Ohio; and a standard-wheelbase 1965 Lehmann-Peterson Lincoln limousine, specially ordered for the publisher of the Philadelphia Inquirer , which incorporated a clever "top half" petition to allow un-impeded front seat travel (it's also the only known L-P survivor built without a vinyl roof, as well as the only one with an entirely stock exterior appearance).
Asked to explain his interest in these smaller L-P Lincolns, Harvey once told me: "Like John Searle, the original owner of my ’67 limo, I consider a long stretch somewhat obnoxious because I’m a regular-type guy."
In spite of his perpetual modestly, Harvey was proud to note his family was “several generations deep in craftspersons,” including a grandfather on his mother’s side who served as construction foreman for the barracks at New Jersey's Fort Dix during WW II. After graduating from Drexel University with a degree in Mechanical Engineering, Harvey entered the US Army as a 2nd Lieutenant in the ROTC program, and spent 31 years working for Rohm & Hass in Bristol, PA, where he specialized in industrial facilities engineering.
If there is anything good to say about Harvey's passing, it's that he's finally been reunited with his late wife Elaine, with whom he had one daughter, Miriam, the main recipient of our condolences along with her husband Paul and son P.J. Harvey's household also includes his beloved Dachshund Heidi, whom Harvey said is “long, low and black like most of my hobby cars.”
Bill Marcy Bill Marcy is offline
PCS Member
Location: Hackensack, N.J.
Harvey will be missed by all of his friends in the Northeast Chapter. He was a fine gentleman. A quiet man, by my standards, but when he spoke, he always had nice things to say. And Harvey was always ready to lend a helping hand. He helped park cars at all of our NE Chapter car shows at Peddler's Village.
Harvey's lovely wife Elaine passeds away about seven, or eight years ago. Now Elaine and Harvey will rest in peace together.
Our thoughts and prayers go out to Harvey's family.
Rest in Peace Harvey! You are fondly remembered.
Rick Franklin
PCS Pacific Northwest Chapter President
Location: Bellevue WA
Im saddened to hear of Harvey's passing. While I never met him, he was extremely well known and liked in the Lincoln & Continental Owners Club of which I am a long time member. His passion for and knowledge of the L-P Limousines was tremendous. I have passed along the news of his passing to the current LCOC Custom Class Advisor. May you rest in peace, Harvey.
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Steve Lichtman
PCS Elected Director
Location: Mt. Airy, MD
It's sad to hear of Harvey's death. He had his short-stretch '67 Lehmann-Peterson Lincoln limousine at the '08 International Meet in Mt. Laurel, as well as at the '89 International Meet in Gaithersburg, MD. He was a pleasant fellow who enjoyed his Lincolns.
Here's a photo Gregg sent via e-mail, of Harvey with one of his little Lincoln limos, the '65 standard wheelbase one.