Public Employee Press

Profiles in Public Service
Voyage of discovery:
Natural History Museum treasure retires after 47 years

By JANE LaTOUR

Even after 47 years on the job as a botanist, ecologist and educator, William Schiller is young of soul, spirit and smile.

Schiller discovered his passion for nature as a child and nurtured it with frequent trips to local parks and the American Museum of Natural History. First with a father who encouraged his love of science and then on his own, he explored the natural world. Pelham Bay, Harriman State Park and Bear Mountain saw his first forays into the wild.
The son of German Jewish immigrants, the South Bronx native followed his older brother to Stuyvesant High School.

“The students made it outstanding,” recalled Schiller. “There was no question at all that we were there to learn, and we were fascinated by the subjects,” Schiller said. At City College he majored in biology and focused on botany.

After graduation, he applied at the museum and won a position on the staff of the new education department along with a geologist, an anthropologist, and a zoologist.
He immersed himself in the job and found it all-encompassing. Schiller built an encyclopedic knowledge of plants, collected copious slides and developed a herbarium — an organized collection of dried plants — for use in his work.

Lifetime contribution
His first field trip took place in the early 1960s when he headed to the new state of Alaska on a trip that presented formidable obstacles and yielded great rewards. It lasted three months and provided all of the necessary scientific and logistical preparations for the museum’s guided tours to the state. Field trips to distant and local destinations became one of Schiller’s hallmarks, as he guided teachers, museum staff and neophytes into the wonderful world of science.

Co-workers lauded Schiller’s legendary expertise Dec. 9 at his retirement party. Standing before a screen featuring slides from his field trips, each speaker told stories that evoked his special qualities and what his service has meant to them and to the special mission of themuseum. Clearly, the gentle, exceedingly humble man has inspired his younger colleagues, who share his passion for science and work to make its mysteries accessible to the public.

Schiller was part of the organizing and negotiating that founded American Museum of Natural History Local 1559. “The union had a great impact on the salaries,” he said. His own decision to leave the payroll was based on looming layoffs. Schiller’s retirement allows a young colleague to stay on the job.

He volunteers his time now and is preparing his own childhood collection of specimens for the museum’s Discovery Room, where a new generation of children will be introduced to the wonders of science.

Reflecting on his journey, he said, “In my own heart, I’m satisfied. From the microbe to the flowering plant, it’s all connected. In my mind, when I’m out of doors, there’s a feeling of celebration. We’re seeing this grand picture and understanding how nature works in fine detail.”