Building for the Future

Jordan D. Schnitzer ’69 shares thoughts on his lifelong commitment to Catlin Gabel, a vision for the future, and why the community needs to come together now to build the most important building on campus.

The following are excerpts from an interview with Jordan D. Schnitzer ’69

When I started at Catlin Gabel in the seventh grade, the lower school was on the Culpepper Terrace campus in northwest Portland. We had twenty students in our class. I still remember the wonderful teachers such as Manvel Schauffler who taught history, Mary McFarland who taught math, and several others. Prior to my going to Catlin Gabel, in 1957 the school bought the Honey Hollow Farm on Barnes Road. The farm was owned and operated by the Autzen family, in the 1930s and 40s, and in the 1950s was bought by the Dant family who had been in the timber and shipping business.

After graduating in 1965 from the lower school campus, we started high school at the Honey Hollow Farm in September. It was amazing to be on a campus with all those acres and sports fields. Even though we were teased a bit by the juniors and seniors, the high school was an exciting place to be! In those days, the Catlin Gabel Rummage Sale was the major fundraising effort, and everyone was either part of the blue or white team! Being part of the blue or white team helped create incredible school spirit! Not being large enough to have a football team, Catlin focused on soccer, basketball, tennis, and field hockey for the female students. The two enclosed tennis courts were there, and we had a wonderful soccer field, but nothing like the school has now!

The campus is still an amazing place with different buildings. But there has never really been a master plan. In my business, unless you have a plan, how do you know where you are going? I talked to Head of School Tim Bazemore about doing a 50-year plan, and he thought it was a good idea. He put together a committee, and I was on it. Out of that plan came the number one priority: to have a bigger athletic center and a gathering place at Catlin that could hold more people for events than the Cabell Center.

My parents instilled in me the idea of giving back, and I’ve always assumed I would do something for Catlin. …The time was right.

Another priority was to do something to welcome alumni back to the campus. Catlin has always done a nice job with Alumni Weekend, but right now there is not a dedicated place to honor alumni and let them go back in time, a physical place where they could look at yearbooks and photos and share memories. So, it was important to me to incorporate this into the new building. An amazing state of the art alumni center!

As the plan evolved, I was lucky enough to work with the wonderful architecture firm, Opsis Architecture, and help suggest some design ideas. Therefore it was only natural to put my money where my mouth was!

My late parents, Arlene and Harold Schnitzer, always had a philosophy which is ingrained in me, “To much is given, much is expected.” I have always felt this applied to everyone, irrespective of their financial position in life. Whether one is able to donate an hour of time or a dollar, what is important is that each of us, to the best of our ability, give back and help improve the institutions that helped shape us into who we are today. Arguably the most important thing we can do for our children is to give them the opportunity to be in a nurturing school environment that helps them not only learn, but develop values, which helps them find their way through their journey in life! Because my parents instilled in me the idea of giving back, I have always assumed I would do something for Catlin. So, the question was what to do and when. After years of hard work, we have been fortunate to be able to grow the business and grow the family fortune a bit. So, the time was right!

Folks often say to me, you have a reputation in this community for supporting a lot of good things, so if your name is involved, that helps create credibility so that others might contribute too. I hope that is the case here. I feel so honored to help, but it is not “look what I’m doing.” It is more about the impact of the things that we are doing together!

What I would suggest is this: whether it is a dollar or a dollar with a zero, or two or three or four zeroes, the amount is less important. What is important is for everyone to do whatever they can. Through our contributions, we are allowing the school to continue to be the best school it can be.

All of us who help make the dream of this building a reality will know in our hearts and minds, we did something important!

I always took the view that it is a wonderful thing to give people the opportunity to do what is right and help them feel good, because when you give back and help others, you feel good about yourself. At some point, we will look back and be proud of what we have done together to get this project built! This building will last generations. With the new dining area, athletic events, and the alumni center, everyone will use this facility. With a 1,300-seat capacity, this building will be able to host the entire Catlin Gabel community, and events for the greater Portland community!

Over the years tens of thousands of people will have memories of their experiences in this building! All of us who help make the dream of this building a reality will know in our hearts and minds, we did something important!