Burton Hemley Schneider
Eulogy by Ray Lindstrom, Feb. 22, 2025
Burt was my buddy, pal, friend, business partner, confidant, moral compass, psychologist, classmate, accomplice, best man, sounding board, and me being an only child, my brother for almost 70 years. 70 years!
We first met on the Tanque Verde school bus when we were 14. I was sitting in the front seat of the bus when Burt got on. He sat next to me. We never said a word, never saw each other before that moment. In a few miles the bus swerved to avoid a dog. Burt turned to me and said, “Should he have endangered the lives of the kids on the bus to avoid hitting the dog?” Doesn’t that sound like Burt…14 years old, he could have said that last month.
Burt was born in Brooklyn in 1942. He moved with his parents and sister Patty to Tucson where they established Treehaven School.
So I met Burt on that school bus. Him…this Jewish kid from New York, me this Swedish Lutheran from the Midwest and yet we hit it off right away because of our interest in radio and records. We both wanted to be on the radio and we wanted to be involved in the record business…both things that the two of us accomplished together before we were 18.
Finding Burt for me was like discovering gold. He had his own “radio station” set up on the 3rd floor of the school…with speakers all over. He called it KTRN, THE VOICE OF TREEHAVEN. He had a microphone, a turntable and a TAPE RECORDER…TAPE RECORDER, WOW. Hardly anybody had one in those days. We started the Burt and Ray Show. We were disc jockeys and played records…and recorded some of those shows…which I still have (mimic). We were awful. (We interrupted Buddy Holly and joined him in singing Peggy Sue.)
At Catalina High School we set up a radio station to play music during lunch hour…microphone and turntable in the boys’ bathroom.
In 1957 we got our big chance on real radio in Tucson, the first FM station, KTKT-FM announcing classical music on weekends. Burt came from an intellectual family they listened to the classics…my parents listened to the WLS Barn Dance. He knew it was VOGNER, to me WAGNER… Our parents had to drive us to the station, we weren’t 16 yet.
When Burt and I were 17 we started Tucson’s first record company, Zoom Records and had a series of local hits with Tucson bands…including Pete Ronstadt and the Nightbeats. When we went to Pete’s house to rehearse, we told his younger sister Linda, “get lost kid, this is serious business.” Came this close.
In 2013 Dan Kruse from the U of A did a documentary about us, these two kids in the record business. That with the internet and all of a sudden our music has a whole generation of new fans. Who woulda known.
But, back to 1959.
Burt’s parents had his whole life mapped out for him. After graduation, he was supposed to attend pre-med at Haverford College and then go to a famous medical school on his way to becoming a doctor.
Burt had other plans. He wanted to be a disc jockey. Me too. His parents thought I was a bad influence on him. Which I was, by the way.
When we graduated from high school we both started at the University of Arizona…and also got jobs in radio as yes, as real disc jockeys. We both worked at KAIR radio a station that had awful ratings. So bad that when we had contests, nobody would call in and we had to make up names of winners. We probably had a bigger audience when we were playing radio at Treehaven School.
Burt’s parents finally succeeded in getting him away from my bad influence and get serious about his academic life…convinced him to go to Boston University…and he did. But, he couldn’t get rid of the radio bug, he was on the school radio station WBUR and graduated in 1963 with a degree in Communication Arts.
After graduation he spent 6 years as officer in the navy, the final 2 being in charge of Armed Forces Radio in Taiwan.
He married Louise Glass and their first child, Lara was born. After military duty in 1969 he returned to the states.
Burt and I would talk about 1969 and 1970 as a critical time in his life. After the Navy he ended up in New York and interviewed with major TV networks about becoming part of their management training program. Burt had the right stuff for that and a background that could have brought great success.
But, at the same time, Burt’s parents were ready to retire from Treehaven School and wanted him to return and be business manager…they had somebody new to run it academically. Burt’s job was to oversee the operation and finances as assistant director.
Burt decided to return to Tucson with his young family and work at the school.
I am convinced that if he would have stayed in New York he would have retired as President of the CBS Television Network. He had the talent and ability to do that.
Burt and Louise moved to Tucson and soon their family would expand to 3 daughters, Lara, Andrea, and Jennie…the loves of his life.
Lots of interesting tales from Burt, one…while he was managing the school he got a call from movie director, Peter Bogdanovich, who wondered if he could come and audition one of his students…Tatum O’neal. The audition was in Burt’s office. She was good and was hired for the movie Paper Moon. She won an Oscar for the performance and at the time was the youngest to ever do so.
Burt also had a famous cousin, comedian Lenny Bruce. Real name: Leonard Schneider. He would tell stories about his visits with Lenny and believe me, always entertaining.
Also, his Uncle Stan was married to June Whitely Taylor who was an actress, appearing in many early TV shows like I Love Lucy and was the mother on the Monkees TV series.
Well unfortunately, Treehaven did not survive without the elder Schneiders at the helm. The school principal was responsible for many problems and they closed in 1980.
Burt’s marriage to Louise had come to an end and with the closing of the school there was a new chapter ahead. He went back to radio and also worked in public relations. Even though I was in Phoenix he and I had a couple businesses together, we had the Arizona franchise for the Columbia School of Broadcasting and we also dabbled in the book business. (dabbled-we never made an money)
In 1982 he married Dr. Jennifer Wing and with her 2 children and his 3 girls they all lived together as a blended family. Like a real life version of the Brady Bunch.
In 1987 Burt’s professional life took a new direction when he opened up a TJ Cinnamons restaurant at Swan and Grant.
Into the 1990’s and Burt’s life changed again when his marriage to Jennifer came to an end and soon suffered a major heart attack. It caused quite a bit of damage to his heart…and looking back I think we were all fortunate that Burt lived as long as he did after that. He spent a while recovering at daughter Jennie’s house and after that again changed direction by working as an American Airlines reservations agent for 5 years.
Burt was always enamored of the Asian culture…he could speak Mandarin and other languages with ease, and over the years he had gotten master’s degrees in oriental studies. It was no surprise when he was married for a while to a Japanese woman, Yoshie.
In the 2000’s…back to radio…back to his passion that had never left him since he was a kid. It wasn’t easy because now he had become virtually totally deaf. But, he was saved by having surgery and given cochlear implants. Burt became the afternoon host at the University of Arizona NPR radio station KUAZ-FM, and after a lengthy stint, that’s where he retired. Imagine…starting out at 15, one of the first announcers on Tucson FM radio, and ending your career 60 years later on Tucson FM radio. A few stops in between, but that was quite a run.
OKAY, THAT WAS ABOUT BURT AND THE WIKIPEDIA PAGE OF HIS LIFE…NOW LET ME TELL YOU ABOUT MY BUDDY…THE REST OF THE STORY.
Who was Burton Hemley Schneider?
I told you something about him at the beginning, the story of what he said when the bus driver swerved to avoid the dog. “Should he have endangered the lives of the kids on the bus to avoid hitting the dog.”
That was Burt, always thinking, always looking at all sides of an issue, always measuring everything. I told him that he tended to overthink every issue. Maybe only because I would underthink everything.
He was a kind person. That doesn’t mean he wouldn’t accidentally hurt your feelings…but he would never do it on purpose. Sometimes his honesty would just get in the way of his kindness.
If you were a woman you wouldn’t want to ask him, “Do you think these pants make my butt look too big?” No, you wouldn’t want to ask him that.
I would ask him, “What do you think of my latest business?” It didn’t surprise me when he said, “How can you get away with that?”
Yes, he was very honest. He would never steal or even cheat on his taxes.
Money or status was not important to him, ever. His jobs or work were not important. What was important were relationships. Relationships mattered. Like with his children. He loved those 3 girls. He doted on them and was always worried about them. Always worried about them. He wanted the absolute best for them…and his grandchildren and great grandchild.
He was always generous with his time and money. He always had time for you. Whenever I asked him to contribute with me to a cause…he would do so without hesitation…even though he never had much money.
Burt never swore or used vile language. He didn’t like it. I made up for both of us.
He loved his dogs…remember Teddy who he had for years…and his most recent companion who virtually never left his side, Hazel…the barky chihuahua.
Yet, he wasn’t perfect, as none of us are. He knew his flaws and admitted them. He would gladly tell anyone his faults. He would never try to hide them. I would say, “Burt, don’t tell people your faults, why don’t you tell everybody how wonderful you are…like I do.” You would think that after being buddies for all those years some of my grandiosity would have rubbed off on him…but it didn’t. He was not a braggard. He was very humble. Except in one area. Do you know who he bragged about…not himself, but he bragged about his kids, his girls, he bragged about his grandkids and his great grandkid.
And, about those faults… he never stopped trying to overcome them and be a better person. Not always succeeding but always trying.
A month before he died I took him down to Phoenix Civic Plaza so he could see the display they have for us and Zoom Records in the Tucson Musicians Museum. I took a photo of him next to our big picture on the wall. I asked him, “Well whaddya think?”
He responded, “Where are we gonna have lunch?”
Not impressed with his own achievements. That was Burt. He just didn’t care about accolades.
He was a better person than me and he helped me through the 70 years we spent as friends. He gave me good advice that actually more than once changed the course of my life for the better. Thank you, Burt, thanks for everything.
One last thing about Burt…he was never late. Whatever time he was supposed to be someplace, he would always be 15 minutes or a half hour earlier. I am convinced that this morning he was here at 9:30. Guaranteed.
To quote the Saint, John Cassian:
The bond between friends cannot be broken by chance; no interval of time or space can destroy it. Not even death itself can part true friends.
Goodbye my friend. I love you…and you will always be in my heart.
