4 minute read
A TRUE GENTLEMAN
Max Schultz
David Steele, nephew
It is typical of the understated character of Max Schultz (FB’50) that a very generous bequest left to the School in his will came as a complete surprise. Max had been a regular donor to the School from 1976, when the Geelong Grammar Foundation (known then as the Endowment Fund) was established, until he died in April 2020. With his final bequest, the School has been able to establish a new scholarship in Max’s name, which will assist rural and regional students to attend GGS.
Max grew up as an only child in the small but prosperous Wimmera town of Nhill, located halfway between Melbourne and Adelaide, where he attended the local primary school. His parents, Herbert (Herbie) and Lucy, lived on the Schultz family farm at first, but after that was sold they took on various business interests in Nhill, including the Theatre Royal which had been built some decades earlier. In January 1924, seven years before Max was born in 1931, the citizens of Nhill flocked to the grand opening night of the renamed HV Schultz Royal Pictures. Three years later, Herbie built a new theatre next door to the old one, in the popular Art Deco style, and this opened in May 1927. The venue accommodated dancing and other entertainment, and even roller-skating when the seats were moved back. Max’s early childhood was spent riding around on his bike with a bucket of clag paste and a bunch of posters, which he pasted around the town to advertise the latest pictures. It was a happy childhood, and by the time Max came to GGS in 1946 – the same year in which his father sold the theatre – a love of the performing arts had already been cemented.
At Corio, Max had an equally happy time. His parents thought that boarding would be good for him because, although bright, Max was very reserved. He earned the nickname ‘chook’. The School encouraged his love of the arts, sport and learning, and in later life he found that his appreciation of Shakespeare was ‘enhanced by memories of readings by Dr Darling at school’. In old age, he enjoyed regaling the family with stories of his cricketing exploits – including a legendary wicket haul. The Corian reveals that, as captain of the Third XI in 1950, Max did indeed take a nifty four wickets for 27 runs against Scotch College!
Max sat his Leaving certificate in 1949 and matriculated in 1950 with a form prize for science, the Mackinnon Prize for mathematics, and an HJ Whittingham Leaving Scholarship. He went up to Trinity College at the University of Melbourne where he studied civil engineering. Upon graduation, he took a job as an engineer with the Country Roads Board (now Vic Roads) where he worked for the next 25 years, mainly on the design management of various bridges on the state’s freeways. In his mid-thirties, Max met Jill, an early childhood teacher. They married and bought a house in Essendon where they remained for the rest of their lives. Unable to have children, Max and Jill dedicated themselves to their wider family of Jill’s three nephews and, in time, their nine children. ‘They were fantastically generous to all of us and very loving towards our children’, explained Jill’s nephew, David Steele.
This generosity extended well beyond the family circle. Following Max’s retirement in 1983, he and Jill became active supporters and patrons of the arts, attending concerts, plays, ballets and operas on a regular basis, and quietly donating to numerous causes. ‘Max was very polite, understated and generous’, said David. ‘He really wanted to keep out of the limelight. One of his and Jill’s key interests in all the things they have given money for was the development of youth. They didn’t want their money just frittered away on something that would disappear.’
After Jill’s death in 2015, Max displayed remarkable resilience even with the onset of Alzheimer’s disease. The family rallied around to help Max stay in his own home, among his huge collection of books and music records, until he died in April 2020 following a brief stay in hospital. In their wills, Max and Jill left bequests to a number of institutions, including Geelong Grammar. ‘He was enormously appreciative of his education’, said David. ‘As
Max Schultz
a rural kid, GGS had such a strong influence on his life. It was never overstated but he really appreciated the opportunity that he’d had.’
David has absolutely no doubt that both Max and Jill would be enormously proud that GGS will offer a scholarship in Max’s name from 2023. ‘I can’t emphasise enough how very polite and unassuming Max was. One of the things our family always remembers is that, towards the end of his life, Max would often say “Remember me to all who would remember me”.’ Through the Max Schultz Scholarship, Max will be remembered long into the future by other rural children who will never know him, but who because of him will benefit from the lifechanging experience of a GGS education.
