SCHEMMER, Benjamin F(ranklin) 1932-2003

OBITUARY NOTICE—See index for CA sketch: Born April 22, 1932, in Winner, SD; died of cardiovascular disease, October 12, 2003, in Naples, FL. Editor, publisher, and author. Schemmer was best known as the former editor and publisher of the Armed Forces Journal International. Beginning his career in the military, Schemmer graduated from the U.S. Military Academy in 1954 with a B.S., and was a ranger in the Army's 2nd Armored Division in Germany and later commanded a tank company in California. Leaving the army in 1957, he worked for a time as an aircraft sales manager for Boeing in Seattle, WA. In 1965, he moved to Washington, D.C., where he was a consultant for the Department of Defense and, from 1965 to 1968, director of Land Force Weapons Systems for the Secretary of State. In 1968 he purchased the Armed Forces Journal International, running the magazine from 1968 until 1988, when he sold it. But he remained the periodical's editor until 1992. Schemmer then moved to Florida, where he began editing the Strategic Review in 1998. He was also the author of four books, including Almanac of Liberty (1974), No Room for Error: The Covert Operations of America's Special Tactics Units from Iran to Afghanistan (2003), which he wrote with John T. Carney Jr., and, most recently, U.S. Special Operations Forces (2003), which Schemmer edited.

OBITUARIES AND OTHER SOURCES:

PERIODICALS

Washington Post, October 14, 2003, p. B6.

Washington Times, October 23, 2003, p. B2.