Maryland's school systems have benefited from
Governor Schaefer's two terms in office. School
funding has increased substantially, to $1.2 billion a
year, and school performance has improved through
programs aimed at early intervention and help for
underachieving students. To prepare students for
school, the Schaefer administration made
kindergarten attendance mandatory and expanded
pre-kindergarten programs to help at-risk students.

A reorganization of Maryland's higher education
system, coupled with increased funding for
institutions and students, produced more focused
academic missions for four-year campuses and made
college degrees more accessible to Marylanders. The
University of Maryland at College Park has benefited
from its designation as Maryland's flagship institution,
while two other institutions—St. Mary's College of
Maryland and Morgan State University—have
excelled under special status each received as part of
the reorganization. Community colleges, bolstered by
increased funding and sharing in higher education's
capital building boom, also attained higher status
during the Schaefer years.

Environmental protection gained greater
awareness through the governor's leadership, with
a new Department of the Environment created to
oversee Maryland's commitment to saving natural
resources. Maryland pledged to restore the
Chesapeake Bay's water quality, signing a regional
agreement to curb pollution that produced
measurable results. Governor Schaefer, recognized
as a leader by his colleagues in the Bay restoration
efforts, was twice chosen chairman of the Chesapeake
Bay Executive Council. Other environmental
accomplishments have included streamlining wetlands
permits, enacting a reforestation effort, and initiating
statewide recycling to make 23 percent of all household
trash recycled by 1994.

In public safety, Governor Schaefer has continued
building correctional institutions to keep pace with the
growing prison population, but also has pushed for
alternatives to incarceration. He opened one of the
nation's first boot camps for first-time offenders,
implemented a home detention program, and
empowered local governments to operate community
service programs for nonviolent offenders. He has
been a consistent advocate of tougher gun laws, and
led the fight to implement a handgun roster board to
ban so-called Saturday-night specials.

Recognizing that the steadiest path to growth is
stimulating new jobs, Mr. Schaefer has headed more
than a dozen international trade missions, seeking
markets for State products, promoting Maryland as
an ideal tourist destination, and strengthening
relations throughout Europe, Asia, and the former
Soviet Union. He challenged State and local
governments to work with businesses interested in
locating in Maryland or expanding their facilities

here. The result was new jobs and trade agreements
steering contracts to Maryland companies.

Governor Schaefer has been a builder,
championing construction of a premier baseball
stadium for the Baltimore Orioles, Maryland's first
light-rail transit line, and an expanded Baltimore
Convention Center. Maryland's college and university
campuses benefited from the building boom, with
projects such as the performing arts center at College
Park, and local school systems enjoyed an increase in
funding for public school construction.

Mr. Schaefer came to Annapolis as governor after
serving 15 years as mayor of Baltimore and overseeing
the City's renaissance. His urban rejuvenation
program, which combined resources from federal,
State and local governments, and the private sector,
triggered a widespread revitalization of Baltimore's
neighborhoods. With the development of the Inner
Harbor, and a major push to draw hotels, restaurants,
and shops to the downtown, Baltimore emerged as a
major tourist center.

Governor Schaefer has received ten honorary
doctorates and won the highest tributes from
national trade journals, fraternal organizations,
civic and service clubs, health and welfare agencies,
and neighborhood associations. He is the fifth
person in the nation to receive the "Distinguished
Public Service Award" from Brandeis University
along with Eleanor Roosevelt, Chief Justice Earl
Warren, Watergate Prosecutor Leon Jaworski, and
Speaker of the House Thomas "Tip" O'Neill.

A life-long resident of Maryland, Governor
Schaefer was born in West Baltimore on November 2,
1921, to William Henry and Tululu Irene Schaefer.
Educated in Baltimore's public schools, he graduated
from Baltimore City College in 1939 and from the
University of Baltimore Law School in 1942.

His legal career put on hold by U.S. entry into
World War II, Mr. Schaefer joined the Army, achieved
officer rank, and took charge of administering military
hospitals both in England and on the Continent. After
his tour of duty, he remained in the U.S. Army Reserve
and retired in 1979 with the rank of colonel. After the
war, he resumed his legal career, practicing real estate
law, and went on to earn a Master of Laws degree from
the University of Baltimore. His leadership roles in
citizen associations propelled him to a seat on the
Baltimore City Council in 1955.

In 1967, rather than seek a fourth term as a
councilman, Mr. Schaefer ran successfully for City
Council president, and four years later was elected to
the City's top job. He was inaugurated as Baltimore's
mayor on December 7, 1971, and served four
consecutive terms until he was elected governor. He
first was inaugurated as Maryland's chief executive on
January 21, 1987; his second inauguration was
January 16,1991.