By Edward A. Malone | Senior Member
Bob Shnitzler was the last surviving member of the committee that organized the Boston-based Society of Technical Writers (STW) in 1953. He passed away on 1 May at the age of 95.
STW merged with the New York–based Association of Technical Writers and Editors (TWE) to form the Society of Technical Writers and Editors (STWE) in 1957. STWE, in turn, merged with the Los Angeles–based Technical Publishing Society (TPS) to form the Society of Technical Writers and Publishers (STWP) in 1960. STWP changed its name to STC in 1971.
Shnitzler was national president of STW when it merged with TWE. He later served on STWE’s first Board of Directors (1958–1959), published articles in the STWP Review, and presented papers at the annual STW/STWE/STWP conferences.
Born on 22 December 1918, in Boston, MA, Robert Karl Shnitzler was the son of Julius Shnitzler (a machinist) and Jennie Avison Shnitzler, both of whom had emigrated from Russia before 1910.
Shnitzler attended Bridgewater State Teachers College, graduating in 1940 with a teaching degree in math and physics. He enlisted in the military in 1942 and trained at Harvard and MIT. He married Anne Finkelstein (his wife of 57 years) before shipping out in 1943. For the next few years, he served as a LORAN specialist on “godforsaken islands” off the coast of Australia.
After his discharge in 1946, Shnitzler returned to the Boston area and took a job as a technical writer at Raytheon Manufacturing Company. He transferred to American Machine and Foundry Corporation in 1950 and became publications section head a year later. He was working for Ultrasonic Corporation when he joined the effort to start STW.
I had the opportunity to interview him at his home in Canton, MA, in March 2009. He talked about the formation of STW and the subsequent merger with TWE.
“I heard somehow that Floyd Hickok [the founder of STW] was having a meeting of technical writers. He got a large room over at MIT, and we all went, and of course he explained he was interested in starting an association of technical writers. . . . There were 40 or 50 people there at the time, and I unfortunately opened my mouth a few times, so then when it came to selecting a group to go forward, I was one of the group.”
The committee, including Shnitzler, selected the society’s name and drafted a set of bylaws. Over the next two years, STW grew from a Boston-area association with “special members” from around the country to a national association with 12 local chapters.
“At first STW and TWE were fighting over who could collect the most people. And of course TWE was collecting much more than we were. One, because they had a larger area, and two, because Floyd Hickok didn’t want anyone in STW except writers, editors, managers; I mean he didn’t think that artists or production people or anybody else should be members. Whereas the New York group, they were collecting anyone who had a connection with a publications operation.”
TWE approached STW about a possible merger in 1956. Although Hickok was opposed to the idea, most STW members realized that the future lay in unification. As STW president, Shnitzler announced the merger plan at a joint STW-TWE conference in late 1956 and supervised its implementation over the next 11 months. After the merger, he remained active in STWE and STWP and was eventually elected Associate Fellow.
Shnitzler continued to work at Ultrasonic as it went through several name changes, becoming Advance Industries in 1957 and Air Technology Corporation in 1961. He rose in position to vice president and director before he resigned in 1968.
In later years, Shnitzler worked as a staff engineer at Itek Corporation, a self-employed technical writing consultant, and a technical writer at Softech Inc. He was the first person to retire from Softech in 1984. Although he was writing software specifications, he did not use a computer. “Never had one; I always did pencil and paper.… But I knew enough about the back end of it to do the writing.”
In the 1980s, STC awarded Shnitzler a plaque in honor of his contributions to STC history. The plaque was hanging on his wall when I visited him in 2009. Shnitzler also showed me a brochure advertising STW’s first national convention in 1955. He was proud of the professional association he helped to create.
