Family physician Mark Alan Schroeder dies

As Christine Alison Bohle Schroeder was having an emergency cesarean delivery with her second son, her husband, Mark Alan Schroeder, was intently watching her team of doctors.

Seeing them work together inspired him to become a doctor, she said.

In 2002, he graduated from the Virginia Commonwealth University School of Medicine. He did an internship at CJW Medical Center and a residency at Chesterfield Family Practice Center.

Dr. Schroeder went to work at Ironbridge Family Practice in Chester in 2005.

In September 2007, after weeks of headaches and double vision, he was diagnosed with brain cancer. He underwent surgery, which stabilized his condition but didn't get all of the tumor, as well as radiation and chemotherapy.

He was back at work full time by May 2008, his wife said. Some patients never knew he had cancer.

He worked until three weeks ago, when doctors found more cancer in a different part of his brain, and the 45-year-old physician died last Saturday at his Mechanicsville home.

A Mass of the Resurrection will be held today, Saturday, at 11 a.m. at the (Catholic) Church of the Redeemer, 8275 Meadowbridge Road, where he was a member.

"When he was going through treatment, someone would say, 'Come on, Dr. Schroeder,' and he'd say, 'You can call me Mark.' He didn't become a physician for the recognition," his wife said. "He didn't want preferential treatment.

"He went into family practice because he liked helping a variety of different people, and he liked the relationships he made with his patients. He was willing to spend time answering [his patients'] questions. He made you feel like you were the only patient he had."

Born in San Francisco, where his father was stationed with the Army, he lived in Chicago and New Providence, N.J., before attending college.

A man who loved the outdoors and fly-fishing, he earned a bachelor's degree in fisheries and wildlife management at Michigan State University in 1985. Four years later at Michigan State, he received a master's degree in packaging, design and development.

Dr. Schroeder moved to Richmond in 1989 as a marketing manager with Ethyl Corp. and then served in a similar position at Tredegar Industries Inc. before going to medical school.

In his spare time, he enjoyed golf, photography and being with family.

Besides his wife, survivors include three sons, Matthew Schroeder, Ryan Schroeder and William Schroeder, all of Mechanicsville; his parents, Robert and Barbara Schroeder of Holly Springs, N.C.; and two sisters, Ann Trindell of Summit, N.J., and Kate Gotelli of Hillsborough, N.C.