Ernst Schürer

Ernst Schürer, 88, of Morehead City, passed away on Saturday, December 18, 2021, at his home.

Ernst was an old-world gentleman, scholar, and adventurer. He often said that he traveled from the Middle Ages to the twenty-first century in one lifetime. Born on September 13th, 1933, in northwest Germany, he lived for a time with his parents and four sisters in a dwelling that can be found today only in museums: a large structure that housed farm animals and family under one roof with an open fire on the floor for cooking. At the age of seven he was already the “man of the house,” helping his mother and sisters through the war.

Travel and an insatiable curiosity characterize each chapter of his life, beginning with hiking all over Germany as an Eagle Scout. At the age of 22 he emigrated from Germany to Canada and then to Austin, Texas where he was employed as an apprentice to a builder of church organs. This allowed him to hone his skills in wood- and metalwork, which served him well for a lifetime. He built a wooden canoe in Austin and paddled down the Rio Grande the length of Texas by himself.

Ernst eagerly accepted the opportunity to study at the University of Texas Austin, a dream of his, and went on to complete a Ph.D. in German Literature at Yale University. While at Yale he appeared on the television program The College Bowl and spent time working on archeological excavations in Utah, which led to a lifetime of interest in the American West.  He never outgrew his childhood love of cowboy films.

His career as a professor of German Language and Literature also kept him on the move, first at Yale, then The University of Florida in Gainesville, on various Fellowships back to Germany, and finally as the Chair of the Department of German Languages and Literature at The Pennsylvania State University from 1978 until his retirement. His area of specialization was German Expressionism, but he was a true generalist. He co-published a biography and collections of essays on B. Traven (author of the Treasure of the Sierra Madres), developed a course on Pennsylvania German culture that attracted 200 students each year, and organized a conference and publication on the fall of the Berlin Wall. He has many publications to his name, and over his lifetime he collected many, many books—he could never walk past a used book stall without picking up at least a novel or two.

Starting in the 1980s, Ernst went on many trips with his teenaged and then grown children from his first marriage. Together, they hiked the northern end of the Appalachian Trail in Maine, explored the Black Forest in Pennsylvania, and canoed the Florida Everglades. Further afield, Ernst followed the route of Jack London down the Yukon River, hiked many stages of the Central Alpine Trail, went to Machu Picchu via the Inca trail, and saw culture and wildlife in Zimbabwe and Botswana (including close encounters with lions and elephants). In retirement he camped on a glacier in Patagonia and sailed through the Beagle Canal in the Tierra del Fuego.

His preferred mode of travel was backpacking: he had his trusty gear from the 1950s and an old framed backpack, and he would rather spend a night in a tent and wake up to a glorious morning sunrise than hide in a hostel or hotel. He was an expert at starting a campfire under the worst of circumstances and at brewing a coffee to start every day. One of his projects was to follow the trails of the Vikings, and on various trips he visited Norway to see the Northern Lights, took a ferry from Denmark to the Faroe Islands and then Iceland (sleeping on deck, of course), and braved the cold of Greenland. The only missing step was the Viking settlement in Labrador, which he sadly never got to see.

A sailing enthusiast for many years, Ernst purchased a thirty-foot Cape Dory on the southern coast of Puerto Rico in 2000 and sailed it back to the Chesapeake Bay. Ernst spent the better portion of a year sailing around the Caribbean and through the Intra-coastal Waterway. On these trips north and south he and his wife discovered Morehead City and Carteret County. It didn’t take much prompting to settle there in retirement.

Ernst will be missed deeply by his wife Susan who resides at 4905 Atlantic Drive in Morehead City, by his four children Frank Schürer-Behrmann, Norbert Schürer, Anne Lohmann, and Abby Anderson, by their spouses, and by his nine grandchildren.

His ashes will be returned to his beloved ocean in a private family ceremony.

Donations may be made in his name to his lifelong charity SmileTrain.org.

Family and friends are welcome to submit online condolences at www.mundenfuneralhome.net

Arrangements by Munden Funeral Home & Crematory in Morehead City, NC.