Susan Scherer

Susan Riley Weed Scherer 1933-2022 Susan Riley Weed Scherer passed away quietly on March 8, 2022, at the Wesley Glen Memory Care center after a 6-year battle with Alzheimer’s disease. Born in Newark, Ohio in 1933, she was a longtime resident of Upper Arlington and Olde Towne East in Columbus, Ohio. She is preceded in death by her mother Helen Corkwell Riley (George) Bierly (Olaf) Sandbo, father Richard Riley, sister Sally R. (Lee) Bishop, husband Thurlow “Tad” Weed, and husband L Raymond Scherer, Jr.

Susan is survived by her loving families: sons Stephen (Jim) Weed, Michael (Kelly) Weed; step-family: Todd (Beth) Scherer, Mark (Kathy, dec) Scherer, Richard Scherer, Barbara (Ken dec) Andrews, and Tres (Joan) Scherer; grandchildren: Riley, Addison, Zachary, Trevor, Nicholas, nephews: Michael (Elizabeth) Bishop, David (Sarah) Bishop, niece Holly Bishop; grand nephews and nieces: Rebecca, Griffin, Katherine, Mason, Riley, Caitlin, and Nate; cousin Sheila F. Dendahl; first and second cousins: Debra Dendahl (Fred) Hadley, Kathy, Lisa, Ellie, Karen, Anderson and Katrina; longtime companion Doug Burns, and the many extended family members, past and present, of the Speer, Corkwell, Flanigan, Krueger, Scherer, and Bierly families.

Susan was educated at Upper Arlington HS, Western College for Women, The Ohio State University and was an active Kappa Alpha Theta member and volunteer from 1956 through 1975. She was an accomplished photographer with Larry Phillips Photography and a busy local political staffer with the Franklin County Republican Party. She was honored by the Cap City Young Republican Club, the Rotary Club of UA, and received the Citizen-Journal’s Outstanding Club Woman of 1971 for her volunteer work with Beaux Arts and Docent activities at the Columbus Museum; COSI Auction organization; OSU sorority rush; and the Western College Alumnae association.

Susan’s worked on special projects at Columbus Recreation & Parks with Director Mel Dodge in the 1970s including the Music in the Air concert program and the new downtown riverfront bandshell amphitheater. Susan was instrumental in developing the initial Zoofari events, Wazoo Association, and ZooAides volunteer programs at the Columbus Zoo. She helped the Zoo to achieve AAZA Accreditation in 1980 and worked with Jack Hanna in his first years there.

Susan received the Mayor’s Award for Voluntary Service in 1980 and was appointed by Governor Rhodes to the State Lottery Commission (1980-1983). She received her second Mayor’s Award medal in 1990 for her outstanding work with the COTA Board of Directors (1985-1996) and successful 1989 levy campaign.

Susan was an experienced facilitator and expert teacher and was certified in the administration of the Myers-Briggs Type Indicator, Neuro-Linguistic Programming, Rebuilding Relationships, and essential Listening Lab skills. She was honored with an Award of Merit in 2003 by the

Association for Psychological Type for her outstanding work with Type. She led uncounted presentations, seminars, and workshops in personal growth topics throughout Central Ohio for many years through the Elizabeth Blackwell Center, APT Columbus, and Relational Care Associates.

Susan’s legacy of volunteerism in the Columbus community may best be remembered in her enthusiastic and tireless work in forming and leading the Divorced & Separated Group at Bexley UMC in 1987 and later at North Broadway UMC. For over 25 years, together with mentors and colleagues, this powerhouse relationship-building and grief-counseling volunteer group presented original and authentic personal growth and self-discovery seminars in rebuilding, listening skills, personality type, facilitator training, and co-dependency courses for more than a thousand members experiencing the pain of separation and loss in our community in the 1980s, 1990s and 2000s.

From 1998 through 2018, Susan was President of The Susan Scherer Charitable Foundation which she founded with her family to assist non-profit Arts and Education organizations with support for new or original projects requiring initial or continuing funding. For 20 years, the foundation identified and supported more than 35 local and national organizations with gifts and contributions totaling over $800k.

Susan was an energetic, enthusiastic, naturally intuitive, independent-minded woman who enjoyed supporting, teaching, and enabling others to develop their strengths and overcome personal challenges. She loved photography, traveling, her UAHS classmates and reunions, her life-long Book Club and Twig 102 friends, the Friends Board of WOSU and Chefs in the City fundraising, her Rec&Parks family, the Buckeyes, T&M Express, Columbus Zoo animals, D&S colleagues, renovating her home on Broad St, and everything North Broadway UMC. She will be missed deeply by her extended family, many friends, fellow facilitators and colleagues, students, and fellow life-long learners.

The family will receive visitors at SCHOEDINGER NORTHWEST CHAPEL on Zollinger Road, Columbus, on Sunday, April 10, 2022, from 1:00-3:30 PM. A Memorial Service will follow visitation hours at the Chapel from 3:30-4:15 PM.

The memorial service will be available online for remote viewing through the Schoedinger.com website beginning at 3:30 PM.

In lieu of flowers, the family asks that contributions in Susan’s memory be made to any of her favorite organizations, or specifically to: The Twig #102 of Nationwide Children’s Hospital; The library at the Ohio Avenue Youth Center in memory of Robert Blalock (DFY&F); The Sally R. Bishop Fund at the Worcester Museum of Art (MA); The Susan Scherer Scholarship Fund at CCAD; or to the charity of your choice.

Watch the webcast of Susan's service by clicking here: https://webcasts.lifetributes.com/1203130