Howard Schultz, 84, Phila. police inspector
In the early 20th century, Howard Schultz's father was a Philadelphia traffic officer who worked the 15th and Locust Streets intersection with "Stop" and "Go" placards.
In the early 20th century, Howard Schultz's father was a Philadelphia traffic officer who worked the 15th and Locust Streets intersection with "Stop" and "Go" placards.
And so, at a 1950 ceremony in which Schultz himself became a Philadelphia policeman, The Inquirer reported, "the badge and service pistol that his father, Harry Schultz, retired policeman, wore a quarter of a century ago were presented to [the] rookie" by his father.
The son rose a bit higher than the father.
Mr. Schultz, 84, a staff inspector when he retired in 1980, died of cardiovascular collapse on Monday at Brookside Healthcare & Rehabilitation Center in Abington. He lived in the Andorra section of the city.
As a staff inspector, his daughter Kathleen Buchanan said, his job was to "police the police."
Police records show that he was promoted to sergeant in February 1955, lieutenant in April 1960, captain in June 1968, and staff inspector in October 1969.
His daughter said he was both a lieutenant and a captain in the Central Detectives division.
The newspaper story about Mr. Schultz's swearing-in reported that his father had been a chauffeur for the director of public safety in the 1920s.
Raised in Southwest Philadelphia, he graduated from John Bartram High School in 1941 and, after working at the Westinghouse Electric Co. plant in Lester, enlisted in the Navy and saw action during World War II. He served in campaigns in Algeria, Tunisia and Sicily, his discharge paper shows.
In a Dec. 21, 1997, commentary in the editorial section of The Inquirer, his was one of several essays about holidays spent far from home.
In 1943, he recalled, his naval base in Sicily was preparing a big Christmas party for local children, with all hands chipping in.
But three days before Christmas, he and his landing-craft crew were shipped out to Algeria to begin training soldiers for the invasion of southern France.
It was, he wrote, "a nasty, damp and miserable Christmas Day. . . . Our Christmas dinner was less than ordinary, and a fight in the mess hall added to our low morale."
Still, he wrote, "we were cheered by our thoughts of the Palermo Christmas party" and the children.
After the war, he attended officers' candidate school at the University of Rochester.
His daughter said that as a teenager, he marched in the Mummers Parade with the Young Star String Band.
"My grandfather at the turn of the century and in the teens was captain of the string band," she said, "and my father played the guitar."
In the 1960s, Mr. Schultz was president of the Falcons Boys Club in Southwest Philadelphia.
He was a member of the Fraternal Order of Police and the Southeastern Pennsylvania Chiefs of Police Association.
Besides his daughter, he is survived by a son, Howard J. Jr.; six grandchildren; and a great-granddaughter.
Visitation is set for 9 a.m. Monday at Immaculate Heart of Mary Church, Cathedral Road, Roxborough. A Mass of Christian Burial will follow at 10. Burial will be in Calvary Cemetery, West Conshohocken.