Robert Schoen Sr., funeral home owner, dies at 81
Times Picayune 06-01-2010
Submitted By NOVA

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Robert James Schoen Sr., the president of his family's funeral home business for for 23 years,
died of cancer Monday at St. Tammany Parish Hospital in Covington. He was 81.

From 1963 until his retirement in 1986, Mr. Schoen ran Jacob Schoen & Son Inc., which his great-
grandfather had founded in 1874. He also led a host of related businesses, including Schoen
Funeral Home of Jefferson Inc., Funeral Auto Service Inc. and New Orleans Limousine Service Inc.

He was a former president of the Louisiana Funeral Directors Association, a member of the New
Orleans and national associations of funeral directors and a chairman of four regional and
national conventions of funeral directors.

Mr. Schoen also was an active preservationist. A former president of Louisiana Landmarks
Society, he was a leader in the successful drive to have the French Quarter named to the
National Register of Historic Places.

In 1973, he was a member of the New Orleans Streets Department's design team that set up the
French Quarter's traffic pattern.

Mr. Schoen was a former president of the St. Charles Avenue Property Owners Association and the
Exchange Club of the Vieux Carré, a former co-chairman of the Elysian Fields Civic &
Improvement Association and a former member of the New Orleans Spring Fiesta's Board of
Governors.

A former member of the St. Patrick's Catholic Church Council and the Friends of St. Patrick's,
Mr. Schoen received the Order of St. Louis from the Archdiocese in 1980.

Mr. Schoen was a native New Orleanian who graduated from Alcée Fortier High School and attended
LSU for two years. He had lived in Covington since 1998.

Survivors include his wife, Agatha Carra Grieshaber Schoen; five sons, Raymond Schoen of
Mandeville, Richard Schoen of River Ridge, Ronald Schoen of Mandeville and Ronald Schoen Jr. and
William Schoen, both of New Orleans; three daughters, Marybelle Bates of Covington, Agatha Jones
of Madisonville and Jennie Cook of Baton Rouge; 20 grandchildren; and two great-grandchildren.

A Mass will be said Friday at 2 p.m. at St. Peter Catholic Church, 125 E. 19th St., Covington.
Visitation will start at noon.

Burial will be in Pinecrest Memorial Gardens in Covington.

Serenity Funeral Home of Covington and Jacob Schoen & Son Funeral Home of New Orleans are in
charge of arrangements.