Gus Schickedanz, left, on horseback during a hunt.Courtesy of the Family
Gus Schickedanz wanted no tears shed at his funeral, only joy and celebration of a remarkable life that led him from his father’s horse farm in East Prussia to Canada, where he became a successful property developer, and the owner and breeder of some of this country’s fastest racehorses.
In April, he received the E.P. Taylor Award of Merit at the Jockey Club of Canada’s Sovereign Awards, recognizing a lifetime of excellence in thoroughbred racing. Mr. Schickedanz accomplished much with a relatively small broodmare band, breeding Langfuhr, which won top-rung stakes races in New York, and later Wando, the last winner of the Canadian Triple Crown and Horse of the Year in 2003.
Mr. Schickedanz won his first Queen’s Plate with Woodcarver in 1999. He also bred Gal In A Ruckus, the first Canadian-bred horse to win the Kentucky Oaks, and Jambalaya, the first Canadian-bred horse to win the Arlington Million in Chicago. All in all, his horses won 10 Sovereign Awards.
At his home, lined with paintings of his equine stars, Mr. Schickedanz died on June 17, having suffered two strokes. He was 90.
Gustav Leopold Schickedanz was born on Feb. 7, 1929, in Memel, in what was then East Prussia, now Lithuania. His father, also named Gustav, was a horse dealer and breeder of German sport horses called Trakehners on a 500-acre farm. His mother, Maria, a “superwoman,” by all accounts, married Gustav, Sr., a widower with five children, and had five more. Gustav Jr. was the ninth of 10.
When he was born, his family gave him the nickname of Snow King because on the night of his birth the weather was so cold that the water pipes froze, so his aunts had to melt snow to wash the baby.
Maria’s son was nothing if not practical. “As a child, he didn’t want to learn English because he thought he wouldn’t need it,” his youngest daughter, Heidi Matthias, said. “He wanted to be a butcher so that he would always eat well.”
During the Second World War, the Russian invasion of Memel, only two kilometres from the Russian border, ended those plans. Under cover of night, the Schickedanz family fled on horse-drawn carriages to safety in Bavaria on Oct. 8, 1944, just ahead of intensive shelling. Mr. Schickedanz, only 15, drove one of the teams. His mother also hid him from conscription into the Nazi army.
After the war, Mr. Schickedanz was the first in the family to immigrate to Canada (with no army record) in 1950 with “his luck, his charm and $3 in his pocket,” Ms. Matthias said. Trained to be a stone mason, Mr. Schickedanz got a job the day after he arrived. The following year, his brothers, Kurt and Gerhard arrived, too.
“Our father always said he learned English from John Wayne and Jimmy Stewart because they spoke so slowly,” Ms. Matthias said. “But it was my mother who refined his language and negotiating skills.” He married Ann Petty in 1954. They had four daughters: Lisa, Susi, Tina and Heidi.
Mr. Schickedanz, his brothers Kurt and Gerhard and close cousin Daniel Schickedanz incorporated Schickedanz Bros. Ltd. in 1953, always operating under the principles of consensus, hard work, independent spirit, a conservative approach and careful attention to the market. The firm developed a broad portfolio, building more than 15,000 residential homes (the backbone of the business), industrial parks and shopping centres in the Greater Toronto Area as well as exclusive sections of Florida, including West Palm Beach and Tampa Bay; Alberta and British Columbia and even Oklahoma. Always with the environment in mind, he planted more trees than he cut down.
Gus Schickedanz.Courtesy of the Family
Mr. Schickedanz was a born leader, with confidence and charisma that drew people to him, his daughter said. “In turn, he had the ability to organize and bring out the strengths in others to achieve goals,” she said. “He was a catalyst. He made things happen. He surrounded himself with amazing and talented people. He had a keen business sense.
“He was determined and demanding, whether in business, sport or family, but always most demanding of himself,” she said. He was a risk taker unafraid to change course or admit a mistake.
“In business dealings, he was known for fairness and integrity,” she said. “He always told us that a good deal was one where all parties were happy.”
He once told daughter Lisa – while he was shaving one morning – to look in the mirror to see if she was happy. “Do something that you really love,” he told her. “I do what I love. And see? I am happy.”
After a decade of establishing the family business, Mr. Schickedanz turned to more recreational pursuits. “Papa was a sportsman,” Heidi said. “He loved to sail. He said he learned to sail in the feed trough and in a pond where he grew up.” He translated his early flirtation with floating into sailing a 52-foot schooner in the moody Georgian Bay near the family cottage at Lambert Island.
But riding horses was his favourite sport. He began to ride as soon as he could clamber aboard a horse’s back, perhaps as early as two years old. For 25 years, he was a master of foxhunting and belonged to a club called the Eglinton and Caledon Hounds. He enjoyed sharing this love with others, and if guests did not ride, he would take them on a carriage ride with a beautifully matched foursome of black Trakehners.
He would start his day with an early ride on his favourite Trakehner, Kronprins, with his dog Moby at his side. He continued to ride horses until his mid-80s and shipped his riding horses back and forth from Schonberg Farm to his 1,600-acre spread, Longleaf Plantation near Aiken, S.C. where he spent his winters and springs. “Both farms are places of exceptional beauty, thanks to Mama and Papa’s planning, planting and tending,” Heidi said.
Mr. Schickedanz also loved to celebrate. “He was a party animal,” Heidi said. “Papa appreciated good food and drink, friends and conversation.” He loved to polka, and in his final years, he would tap his hands and feet to the music of Mozart and Strauss.
“He knew how to enjoy life better than anyone I know,” said Lauri Kenny, the manager of Schickedanz’s idyllic Schonberg Farm near Schomberg, Ont., for almost 34 years. (Mr. Schickedanz considered Mr. Kenny and Mike Keogh, his trainer of 26 years, as his adopted sons.)
Although Mr. Keogh was his private trainer, Mr. Schickedanz once gave his horse Marlang to Debbie England to train. Marlang won the Breeders’ Stakes at Woodbine (third jewel of the Canadian Triple Crown), and then won the Saranac Stakes at Saratoga Racetrack at Saratoga Springs, N.Y., the summertime mecca of the racing set.
“Winning at Saratoga is always a big deal,” Ms. England said. “But when the horse came back to the winner’s circle, he took him and walked all the way down the stretch.”
“Apparently Marlang’s owner is taking him for a walk,” the race announcer said across the PA system. “I’m sure he’ll come back at some point.”
“I’m showing Saratoga my racehorse!” he told Ms. England, while doffing his hat. (He was known for his white Stetson.) The crowd cheered.
Ms. England later went fox hunting with Mr. Schickedanz and was part of a party of 26 people he flew to South Carolina to celebrate his 80th birthday.
Mr. Schickedanz departed the way he wished, without fuss and fanfare, in a plain pine box, beautiful in its simplicity. It was his way of saying his final “Amen!” a word he always used to punctuate his remarks during his life.
He leaves his wife, Ann, four daughters, 10 grandchildren and two great-grandchildren.