Mary Lou Schendel, treasured wife, mother, and Nana died peacefully on Wednesday March 26, 2014 at the age of 79. May Lou was born in Chicago on December 16, 1934 to parents Vern and Alice Sigler and grew up in Crown Point, Indiana. She graduated from Crown Point High School in 1952 and attended Rosary College (now Dominican University) for two years before transferring to the University of Wisconsin-Madison, where she met her husband Dan. In 1956 she received a Bachelor of Arts in Elementary Education from UW. Mary Lou and Dan were married at St. Mary's Catholic Church in Crown Point, Indiana on September 1, 1956. Dan and Mary Lou spent the first years of their marriage in Dayton, Ohio where he served in the U.S. Air Force and she taught 1st grade in the Dayton Public School system. They then moved to Palo Alto, California, where she taught 1st grade at Ormondale Elementary School in Portola Valley while Dan pursued his doctoral degree at Stanford University. Mary Lou returned to Indiana with Dan after he joined the Krannert School of Management faculty at Purdue University in 1965. During her years in West Lafayette, she was an active member of the Purdue Women's Club, Chi Omega alumni, the Kingston Elementary School (now Happy Hollow Elementary School) PTA, and the West Lafayette High School Red Devils Mother's Club. Mary Lou was a devoted and exceptional mother to her three daughters, Suzanne (Jain), Pam, and Sharon (Kohn) as well as a loving Nana to her three grandchildren, Sabrina (14), Sofia (12), and Derek (8) Jain. Mary Lou was also a highly talented and invaluable professional partner for Dan. Her long hours and dedication as Executive Editor of the Strategic Management Journal, which Dan founded in 1978, were critical in elevating the journal to the high status it now enjoys. She was always a caring listener to all the authors who submitted to and published in the journal, and was ever willing to guide them through the publication process. She also oversaw the journal's peer review as it grew from a quarterly publication to one that offered 13 issues annually, and pored over nearly every paper that appeared in the journal between 1980 and 2007 to ensure that they were of the highest possible quality. In addition to her work with the journal, Mary Lou served a key role in starting and building the Strategic Management Society, a professional society that now has more than 3,000 members across the globe. Mary Lou's commitment to education was reflected in many of her activities, foremost of which was her membership in the P.E.O. (Philanthropic Educational Organization) philanthropic sisterhood, which is in part devoted to providing financial resources to young women who are in pursuit of higher education. Mary Lou served as President of the local P.E.O. chapter and under her leadership the chapter had great success in securing scholarship funds for their candidates. During the spring and summer months, Mary Lou's expert touch with plants was always in full evidence as she tended her beloved house's gardens for nearly 50 years. Mary Lou's generous heart and vibrant spirit will be sorely missed by her family, as will her beautiful smile, which, as one of her daughter's friends described it, “Could charm the birds from the trees”. Visitation will be held from 5-8 P.M. on Monday March 31 at the Soller-Baker Lafayette Chapel, which will be followed by a funeral service at the Soller-Baker Lafayette Chapel on Tuesday April 1 at 10 A.M. In lieu of flowers, the family requests that donations be made to the P.E.O. Foundation (www.peointernational.org or P.E.O. Foundation 3700 Grand Avenue Des Moines, IA 50312).