David Schuster

David Schuster graduated from Michigan Tech in 1963 with his BS in Civil Engineering.

Schuster chose Michigan Tech after taking the National Merit Scholarship test and being number one in his class of 113 at Warren High School. His scholarship allowed him to choose whichever university he wanted to attend, but he wanted to follow in his cousin’s footsteps who graduated from Tech five years prior, also with a civil engineering degree, and who then went into the Navy.

Making the most of his time at Tech, Schuster played intramural hockey and was a diver on the swim team for four years. He was also in ROTC.

“You know, in those days, every student had to be in ROTC for the first two years,” he said. “Then you made your decision whether to go into what they called the Advanced Corps or not. Of course, that shrunk the group. But I was on the Drill Team and we traveled around the state showing off at various high schools, programs, and so forth.”

The known adage about how it’s easy to get into Tech, but not easy to graduate from Tech, rang true even back in the 60s. “I remember when I went to orientation in 1959. The guy that was doing the program said, ‘Okay, X number of you here are freshmen. Seven percent of you will graduate in four years.’ Well, I was one of those. I was just go, go, go. I knew I wanted to be a civil engineer right from the get-go.”

Schuster was commissioned to the Air Force on the day he graduated from Michigan Tech in 1963. He was assigned to be a medical construction liaison officer in Atlanta, Georgia, where he would travel to various Air Force bases to review construction plans and make recommendations. He went on to work out of Washington, D.C., then Dallas, Texas. 

“I was in Dallas just a matter of months after Kennedy was killed,” Schuster remembered. “I drove that route every day home, back and forth.”

While in Dallas, Schuster heard there was a position open in Vietnam doing the same thing.

“I asked the boss if I could sign up for that, and he went into Washington, came back, and said, ‘You got it. It’ll be six months from now.’ So I did the same thing in Vietnam for a year at all 10 air bases. I had to monitor the medical facility construction and I had a list of over 200 flights that I made. With blanket travel orders, I could just say, ‘I want to  go somewhere,’ and get on the first thing that went—whether it was Army, Air Force, helicopter, airplane, it didn’t matter. It allowed me to travel to Bangkok about three times, and Singapore a couple times, because we were getting materials from some of those places. The civil engineering office would say, ‘You can go because you got the travel orders to do whatever you want to do, so go, go, go.’”

Schuster’s memories include not being able to wear military uniforms in Singapore, taking his R&R (rest and recuperation) in Tokyo, and living in an apartment in Saigon where he received some delicious, authentic meals from a local.

After returning from Vietnam, Schuster was assigned to Scott Air Force Base in Illinois until he received a phone call one day from the colonel he worked for in Dallas, who asked Schuster if he would join him in working at Ohio State University as they were expanding their medical complex. 

“He called me and asked, ‘Would you entertain the thought of leaving active duty and coming to work with us?’ I said, ‘I’ll think about it,’ but I made a long list of things including being admitted to the graduate school for an MBA because I had already started that, and I wanted a Reserve assignment because I didn’t want to leave the military, I needed four weeks of vacation. I needed this, that, and the other. And it would take six months before I could leave active duty because I was a regular officer. Well, they made it all happen. I was at Ohio State for five years. I did get the MBA.”

While working to earn his MBA (which he received in 1972), Schuster recalled an instructor telling him to be in business for himself, if he could. That was his next step.

Schuster purchased his father’s prosperous gas station garage business in Warren, Michigan, after his father received and refused an offer from an AMOCO representative. He did that for 19 years, while staying in the Reserves under the Medical Service Corps in hospital administration. He retired in 1989.

“I thought I was retired,” he said. “Two months later, they had me managing the airport in Gaylord. I did that for 13 years. They put me on the hospital board because of my background in construction and administration. I was a Rotarian for 50 years. I was in the Elks Club, which does a lot for Veterans. I always said, ‘If you have half a brain, you’ll find something.’”

In addition to his community involvement, Schuster got his private pilot’s license and his building license, enjoying restoring old cars and buildings.

“Just the basic concept of being an engineer and being methodical and technical prepared me for a lot of things,” Schuster said. “Keep your mind on what you want to be and where you want to go.”

Interview conducted as part of the Oral History Collection during Military Service Appreciation Weekend, hosted by the Office of Alumni Engagement, May 2–3, 2025.

Updated May 2025