Obituary of Robert Lou Schreiber

Robert ("Bob") Lou Schreiber, who served more than 30 years as a public information officer for the National Institutes of Health, died Sunday November 16, 2014 after succumbing to cancer coupled with congestive heart failure. He was 87. Bob was born in 1927 in Cleveland, Ohio to Abraham Schreiber and Martha Weiss. His family moved to Oklahoma when Bob was 9. Bob had a brother, Alan ("Buddy"), who has also passed away. Bob spent his childhood years in Oklahoma and attended high school there. After graduating in 1945, Bob joined the Navy and served as a yeoman on a destroyer. He was honorably discharged from the Naval Reserve in March 1952, having served at the very end of World War II. After returning from his active military service, Bob studied at the University of Oklahoma and received his bachelor's degree in journalism in 1950. After a short stint as a reporter in Oklahoma, he joined the University of Oklahoma Medical Center as its first public relations director. While on the staff, he obtained his masters degree in journalism (1961) with concentrations in public relations and public health from the University of Oklahoma, thereby launching his career in medical communications. In 1958 Bob moved on to a similar post at the University of Pittsburgh Health Science Center. For four years he handled medical public relations at Pitt, working with such notable scientists as Dr. Jonas Salk. In 1962 Bob joined the NIH in the Washington DC area, initially as an information specialist and eventually advancing to an information officer. For the next 16 years, he handled the presentation and explanation of complex issues, such as tissue typing studies. (This field led to the possibility of organ transplantation between unrelated donors.) Bob also dealt with the national controversy over the swine flu vaccine during the Ford administration and the emerging AIDS epidemic. Bob helped organize some of the first science writers' seminars at NIH on such topics as allergy and immunology. Bob received the DHEW Superior Service Award in 1973. Bob was offered an assignment in 1983 to work with the surgeon general setting up a conference on developing strategies to increase the supply of solid organs for transplantation. After 5 months in that post, a former NIH associate director for communications brought Bob back to NIH as his special assistant. During this period in the Office of Communications, Bob handled a variety of assignments that drew on his wide knowledge of the institute -- including involvement in the evolving animal rights debate. Bob retired from NIH in August of 1993. Bob married Joan M. Gray in 1978 and settled in Rockville, Md. In the early years of his retirement, he and his wife enjoyed traveling. Joan died in 1998, but Bob continued to be a much beloved presence in the lives of his stepchildren and grandchildren. In 2008 he moved to a retirement community, Riderwood, in Silver Spring where he resided until his death. He is survived by his five step-children and their spouses (Brian and Rosemary Gray of Toronto Canada, Stephen Gray and Ingrid Jacoby of Buckingham England, Kevin and Joellyn Gray of Darien Ct., Lorraine Gray and Tomas Lozano-Perez of Newton Ma., and Brenda Gray Reny of Charlestown Ma.), his 14 grandchildren (Kevin Gray, Aidan Gray, Brendan Gray, Alice Gray, Colin Gray, Malcolm Gray, Duncan Gray, Harry Gray, Owen Gray, Laura Lozano, Cristina Lozano, Paul Reny, Jonathan Reny, and Thomas Reny), and his great granddaughter Lesley Gray. Bob's ashes will be interred at the columbarium at Arlington National Cemetery alongside those of his wife, Joan. A private memorial service will be held in the future when access to the columbarium's niche can be arranged. Bob will be lovingly remembered as one of the gentlest and nicest of human beings. The family asks that any donations made in Bob's honor be directed to the Alzheimer's Association. (Note: For some of the information provided here, credit goes to Rich McManus for a news article at the time of Robert's retirement, in the NIH "Record" newsletter, August 3, 1993)