Eugene "Gene" Joseph Schiller, Jr

Eugene J. Schiller, 86, an Aberdeen resident since 1998, passed away on Monday, October 12, 2015, at ManorCare Health Services in Aberdeen following a brief illness.

Mass of Christian burial will be 10:30 a.m., Friday, October 16, 2015, at Sacred Heart Catholic Church, 409 3rd Avenue SE, Aberdeen, with Father Melvin Kuhn as Celebrant.

Private burial will take place at St. Mary's Catholic Cemetery in Aberdeen.

Schriver's Memorial Mortuary & Crematory, 414 5th Avenue NW, Aberdeen, is in charge of arrangements.

Visitation will be 5-7 p.m., Thursday, at the mortuary followed by a liturgical wake service and rosary at 7:00 p.m. Visitation continues one hour prior to Mass at church on Friday.

In lieu of flowers, memorial gifts may be sent to the Schiller Family Scholarship Fund at Roncalli Catholic School in Aberdeen.

Eugene Joseph Schiller, Jr. was born on March 29,1929, in Ocean Grove, New Jersey, to Eugene J. Schiller, Sr. and Agnes (Rogers) Schiller. He grew up in Brooklyn, New York. After graduating from St. Augustine High School and St John's University in Brooklyn, Gene began a successful career in the insurance industry. He worked for Guy Carpenter & Company and Marsh & McLennan in New York City before joining Pritchard & Baird in New Jersey and Kaiser Steel in California. He was also a partner in George Zimmerman Associates and Global Line Slip.

Gene married Claire Agnes McCarthy on February 3, 1951, at Jersey City, New Jersey. Gene and Claire raised their family in Jamaica, NY, and later lived in Southern California, before retiring to Aberdeen in 1998. The couple shared 60 years of marriage before Claire passed away on July 25, 2011.

Gene was united in marriage to Lu (Zahn) Murphy on May 9, 2012, in Sioux Falls, SD. They made Aberdeen their home, where Gene continued to reside until the time of his death.

Gene loved his family, his faith and his friends. He had a great sense of humor, enjoyed reading history, doing crossword puzzles, collecting turtle statues and an occasional cocktail. He correctly predicted that the Second Avenue Subway in New York City, which was begun in his youth, would not be completed in his lifetime.

Blessed to have shared in Gene's life is his wife, Lu Schiller of Aberdeen; his children: Matthew (Christine) Schiller of Norwood, NJ, Mark (Deborah) Schiller of Brattleboro, VT, and Sharon (Frank) Gould of Aberdeen, SD; 15 grandchildren; and 8 great-grandchildren.

Gene's parents and first wife, Claire, preceded him in death.