Marathon Coach Remembers Company Owner Robert A. Schoellhorn
January 30, 2017, Coburg, Ore. — Marathon Owner and Chairman Robert Schoellhorn passed away peacefully at his home in West Palm Beach, Fla. on January 11, 2017.
“Dad was always passionate about our Marathon family and the beautiful coaches we create.” said Marathon Coach Owner and President Steve Schoellhorn. “He developed close friendships with so many coach owners and employees, and words can’t express how much he enjoyed spending time with so many people over the years. He will be missed greatly.”
Born in Philadelphia in 1928, Bob Schoellhorn began his career by studying chemistry and graduated from the Philadelphia College of Textiles and Sciences. He served in the United States Army as a chemist and then worked for 26 years for American Cyanamid, an industry leader in its time. In 1973 he joined Abbott Laboratories, a worldwide major pharmaceutical company. Mr. Schoellhorn’s 17 years of executive service included more than 10 years as Chief Executive Officer and Chairman of the Board.
Upon retirement he pursued an interest in RVing, seeing the country and experiencing a new lifestyle. He first purchased a traditional class A motor home, but after several journeys realized that he desired higher quality and better drivability.? When he stumbled upon Marathon in Oregon, Mr. Schoellhorn was greatly impressed with the advanced bus conversions, which were similar to private jets and custom yachts. He bought his first Marathon in 1991, and was so impressed with his new coach that shortly thereafter purchased a minority share in the company. He became sole owner of Marathon Coach in 1994 and used his worldwide business expertise and investment to accelerate Marathon's expansion by many years, including building the company’s state-of-the-art headquarters in Coburg, Ore. During Mr. Schoellhorn’s tenure, the company built and distributed over 1,000 custom bus conversions.
Mr. Schoellhorn is survived by his wife Kay; three children, Robert W. Schoellhorn, Jennifer Kovalenko and Steve Schoellhorn; many grandchildren, other family and countless friends.
He served on the board of Pillsbury, International Telephone & Telegraph Corp., and Shell Oil Company. He was past-chairman and director of the Pharmaceutical Manufacturing Association and the Health Industry Manufacturers Association. In addition, Mr. Schoellhorn was committed to numerous charitable organizations, including the Cradle Society, University of North Carolina REX Heart and Vascular Hospital Campaign, and The National Law Enforcement Officers Memorial Fund.
A celebration to honor Mr. Schoellhorn’s life with will be held at Marathon Coach Headquarters in Oregon this summer.
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Marathon Coach, founded in 1983, is the world’s largest and most experienced luxury bus conversion company. Over the past two decades, Marathon has grown its business by producing innovative, quality coaches, as well as possessing an unwavering commitment to after-sale personalized service. The company has produced and sold over 1,200 custom bus conversions worldwide, by far an industry record. Marathon provides service support to their valued coach owners at their sales and service facilities in Oregon, Texas and Florida. For more information about Marathon coach, Inc., please call 800-234-9991 or visit the company’s website at www.marathoncoach.com.