Anton Franz Schreiner

Anton Franz Schreiner, 77, passed away Saturday, February 21, 2015 at Rex Hospital, Raleigh, NC. Anton was born April 29, 1937 in Apatin, Yugoslavia, the son of Karl and Anna Holzhauer Schreiner. He has one brother, Walter Schreiner. Anton and his family immigrated to the US in 1952. While living in Allen Park, Michigan, he received BS and MS degrees in Chemistry from the University of Detroit. While working on his Ph.D. in Chemistry at the University of Illinois, he met and married a fellow graduate student, Clara Lee Gall. As a post-doctoral fellow at U of I, he became interested in the use of magnets and lasers as means to answer fundamental chemical problems. He continued and expanded this research as a Professor of Chemistry at North Carolina State University, Raleigh, for the next 33 years. His enthusiasm for research and his dedication to teaching brought him many talented graduate students in whom he took great pride.

On retirement, Anton was able to pursue his interest in the causes of World War I, which outcome set the stage for World War II and the horrible aftermath that dislocated his family, sending his father to a Russian concentration camp for five years. He and his mother, brother, grandmother, and other relatives were marched to Serbian concentration camps, from which his surviving family escaped in 1947, making their way through Hungary to the English zone in Austria, arriving to safety the day before his tenth birthday. His own history sparked his great interest in other people’s personal stories, and he genuinely enjoyed hearing their experiences and remembered the intricacies of their stories with amazing detail.

Anton is survived by his wife of 48 years, Clara Gall Schreiner, his son Erik (Stacie) Schreiner, grandchildren, Sophie and Gretchen Schreiner, his bother Walther (Kathleen) Schreiner, niece Elizabeth (Jeff) Schreiner Blake, nephew Franz Schreiner, brother-in-law Wayne K. (Susan) Gall, nephews Jeffrey (Jodi) Gall and Jonathan Gall, niece Jennifer (Tim) Gall Powell, sister-in-law Dorothy Wade Gall, nieces Heather Gall (Cris) George and Pamela Gall (Gary) Miller and nephew Andrew (Jenn) Gall. He also leaves an aunt Elisabeth Egles and cousin Karin Egles, an uncle Thomas Schreiner and cousin Christl Schreiner (Frank) Balogh, and cousin Helga Holzhauer (Franz) Momirov, plus many great nieces and great nephews. He is predeceased by his parents and brother-in-law Harold E. Gall.

The family wishes to thank the Apex EMS Squad, and the members of the Fairview Fire Department for their efforts on Anton’s behalf.

A Funeral Mass will be held 11am Friday, February 27, 2015 at Saint Andew the Apostle Catholic Church, 3008 Old Raleigh Rd, Apex, NC 27502. Inurnment will follow the service in the church columbarium. The family will receive friends 10-11am prior to the service at the church.

In lieu of flowers, memorials may be made to the NC State University Libraries, www.lib.ncsu.edu/giving.

Condolences may be sent to www.ApexFuneral.net