Schott mourners pay last respects

CINCINNATI -- Marge Schott, the former Cincinnati Reds majority owner who clashed with baseball's leadership and was a community philanthropist, was buried Saturday in a suit of her favorite color: red.

Schott's past suspensions by baseball for remarks insensitive to blacks and Jews were overlooked on a day in which Pete Rose, other players and executives, politicians and friends joined Schott's family to memorialize her 75-year life.

"Actions speak louder than words," said Johnny Bench, the Reds' Hall of Fame catcher. "I judged her by her actions. She had a big heart."

"She was a wonderful person for others, and her possessions will continue to give to others," said Lottie Crane, the oldest of Schott's four sisters, who read the eulogy for the funeral Mass at All Saints Roman Catholic Church in suburban Cincinnati, where Schott was a donor and parishioner.

She was buried in the Archdiocese of Cincinnati's Gate of Heaven Cemetery in Montgomery, where former Reds slugger Ted Kluszewski was interred in 1988.

Relatives and friends recalled Schott's donations to the church, where a new parish hall named for her opened last year as well as to the Boy Scouts; St. Ursula Academy, a Cincinnati Catholic school for girls which opened a gymnasium last year that she helped pay for and the Cincinnati Zoo, where her contributions helped build a new elephant display facility that opened in 2000.

Melanie Burke, 18, and Julia Rouse, 18, both St. Ursula seniors on the student council, represented their school at the public visitation before Schott's funeral. They remembered Schott showing up at their new gym last year and doling out Reds tickets to four students.

"She pulled up in a car, said hello and gave us tickets to the game," Burke said.

Mayor Charlie Luken and executives of the Reds and Major League Baseball attended the funeral. Bob DuPuy, baseball's chief operating officer, sat with his Reds counterpart, John Allen.

Bouquets mostly in team colors of red and white surrounded Schott's cherry wood casket. At her sisters' insistence, Schott was dressed in a red suit with a golden elephant pin on her lapel to reflect her love of animals and donations to the Cincinnati Zoo.

Across the room were a table of photographs showing Schott with her parents as a child, with her late husband Charles, with former President Reagan and current President Bush, with boxer Muhammad Ali and with one of her St. Bernard dogs.

Schott, a car dealer who retained a minority interest in the Reds after selling her controlling shares in 1999, died Tuesday. She had been hospitalized about three weeks for breathing problems.

Schott bought majority control of the team in 1984 partly, she said, because there were rumors then that someone else might buy the team and move it out of Cincinnati.

"She's the first lady of Cincinnati," said Sheldon Bender, a Reds executive who has worked for the team since 1967.

A steady stream of mourners passed through the church's Marge Schott Parish Center during the 3 1/2-hour public visitation.

Allen said his fondest memory of Schott was going to the circus with her eight years ago.

"Just to watch her glee and delight that night was wonderful," Allen said. "She obviously loved the animals."

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