Dr. William M. Schreiber

11/20/1935 - 5/13/2026

Dr. William M. Schreiber passed away peacefully on May 13, 2026, in Louisville, KY; he was 90 years old.

He was born in Fairfield, Iowa, and grew up in Wooster, Ohio, the son of Willy Schreiber, a German immigrant college professor, and Clare Adel Schreiber, a nursery school director. As a teenager, Bill made his way on a Greyhound bus with a steamer trunk and his trombone to Harvard College. While in Cambridge, he played both varsity basketball and football and spent one summer painting Harvard’s Memorial Stadium as a work-study student. He graduated with a BA in English in 1957 and moved to New York City, where he taught English at the McBurney Prep School.

He quickly realized that his passion lay elsewhere and, as a past English major, took extensive pre-med courses that eventually led to his graduating from The Ohio State University Medical School. A decisive man who never doubted himself, while a medical resident at Vanderbilt University in Nashville, he was set up on a blind date and fell in love instantly with Sandra Gray from Louisville, KY. He proposed (and she said yes!) on that first date. The two married five short months later in May of 1964 in Louisville. Theirs was a marriage of true partners who remained deeply in love with each other for over six decades; they celebrated their 62nd wedding anniversary on May 9, just days before his passing.

After completing his internship in internal medicine at Yale University, Bill served in the State Department’s Bureau of Medical Services at the Atomic Bomb Casualty Commission in Hiroshima, Japan, where he and Sandy, and their one-year-old daughter Alexandra, lived for two years.

Returning to the States in 1969, Bill joined a small internal medicine practice in Louisville and shortly thereafter welcomed his son and namesake, Bill Jr. Bill continued practicing medicine until the age of 79, working one day into his 80th year. He practiced all that time because he savored the relationships he developed with his patients over many years of caring for them, and he couldn’t bear to leave them. However, not a fan of technology, the conversion to electronic records finally convinced him to retire.

Whether talking about his family, his friends, his next trip, or his next meal, his enthusiasm for life was infectious. His background in English made him a ferocious reader, and he loved classical music, American history, and wildlife. He was fiercely loyal to Harvard, to THE Ohio State University (he carried a buckeye in his pocket at ALL times!), and to the College of Wooster, where his father was a German language professor and chair of the German Department for 47 years. In addition, living abroad had ignited a love of travel. This, along with his particular love for trains, led to countless journeys with Sandy around the globe, including via the trans-Canadian, trans-Siberian, and trans-African rails, as well as the trains of Europe and the US. He went on safari to Kenya; saw the polar bears of the North Pole and the whales and finches of the Galapagos; visited Europe numerous times, including a last trip with family to his father’s home outside of Bonn, Germany, in 2018; and returned to Japan in 2014 with his entire family, where he delighted in showing off his unintelligible Japanese.

Bill’s magnetic, one-of-a-kind personality and endless ability to tell stories and laugh drew people to him at every stage of his life. A dedicated and loyal friend, he maintained deep relationships with friends from high school, college, his medical education, life in Louisville, and his travels until his passing. But his true joy came from his family. He loved his three brothers dearly and continued speaking daily with his remaining brother, Stephen, by phone until the end. His love for his wife, daughter, son, and two grandsons (as well as numerous poorly behaved Weimaraners and Vizslas and cats) knew no bounds, and he derived great joy from each of them. They were all the lights of his life, and he was incapable of seeing any flaws in them. The love he had for his family was matched only by their love for him in return.

Bill is survived by his wife, Sandra; his two children, Alexandra Thurstone (Andy) and Bill Schreiber Jr. (Dara); two grandsons, Gray and Andrew Thurstone; and his youngest brother, Stephen Schreiber (Jill).

In lieu of flowers, please consider a donation to either:

The Francis Parker School of Louisville

or

The National Audubon Society’s Corkscrew Swamp Sanctuary:
Corkscrew Swamp Sanctuary