Father's Day Tribute: David Schoen

David Schoen – Atlanta, GA

Our red-headed dad is the best, coolest, and funniest father in town. Yes — we poke fun at his bucket hat when he plays tennis, and we take advantage of his pop-culture naivete by feeding him fake slang — but that’s just ‘cause we love him.

Dad shows up for everything. He works harder than you could imagine, but he never misses anything that’s important to us, making his schedule around family dinners, college move-ins, and baseball games. Dad is the best cheerleader and sees the best in us. Using his tennis champ wisdom, he pumps us up to “have fun and remember: high, positive energy!” before big games, presentations, tests, and performances. Dad is completely sincere and treats everyone, from young to old, as special. Just walk into synagogue and you’ll see — he’ll accompany one person to their seat, pick up a running bit with someone else, and invite a stranger for a meal, all before services begin. He always asks Holocaust survivors and their families to stand and be honored when he addresses Jewish crowds. Dad also does a lot for others that you would never see. One small insight is that he often emails newspaper contributors who publish interesting personal stories to let them know how their piece touched him. Starting as a civil rights attorney in Alabama in the ’80s, Dad always does what he believes to be the right thing and is uninhibited by what people might think about it. He is honest in public and in private.

Despite losing his father young, Dad figured out how to play fatherly roles for so many. He has coached just about everyone in town (in every sport), he gives rides to everyone (we finally got him to say goodbye to the baseball “clown car” that somehow fit the entire team…), he gives advice, and he never says no to helping our friends when they’re in trouble.

Dad is also the best son in town. Everybody who does their Friday shopping at The Spicy Peach, Kosher Gourmet, Kroger, or Whole Foods can remember Dad and Granny pushing their cart together, making jokes and chatting with everyone in the store. When Granny passed away in 2020, Dad got many notes from people who said that seeing them together made everyone wish their own mom or child would spend time with them like that.

We love you Dad. Thank you for working hard for us everyday. We are proud of you!

The Schoen children