Michael Schirmer

Michael Hamilton Schirmer passed away in his sleep on January 6, 2024 following 4 weeks of Hospice Care at his home on Burt Lake. He was a few weeks away from reaching his 90 th birthday on February 21.

Mike was born in Indianapolis, Indiana to Frances Hamilton Schirmer and spent his childhood there, with summers at the family home on Burt Lake, Michigan. He attended Lawrenceville School, Williams College, and received a graduate degree in Chemical Engineering from
University of Michigan. He was an enthusiastic U of M supporter with season tickets to their football games. After graduation from Williams, he spent 3 years in the US Navy working on lighter than air aircraft at a blimp base in New Jersey. He spent most of his career working for
Bechtel Corporation, one of the world’s foremost engineering construction firms. During his tenure there he worked on the construction of the Alaska Pipeline and the design and construction of a number of nuclear power plants. His assignments took him to many states in the US, as well as a stint in Wales, and he had homes in Tiburon, California and Cedarbrook, Wisconsin. Regardless of his many stops around the world, Mike’s heart was always on Burt Lake, where he spent all his summers growing up on his family’s property and after retirement he moved there permanently until his passing. He was an avid sailor, bringing his boat from San Francisco Bay to Harbor Springs on retirement. He also loved his days on Burt Lake in his 1940 Chris Craft, as well as rowing his mother’s antique rowboat. He was a popular member of the Burt Lake Cottager’s Association and an enthusiastic supporter of the Little Traverse Conservancy and the Tip of the Mitt Watershed Council. He was dog lover, and his faithful companion Luke was by his side when he passed.

He was proceeded in death by his mother and father, Edward and Frances Schirmer, and his older brother Bud.

He is survived by his brother Robert “Ham” Schirmer, of Burt Lake, and many nieces and nephews.

There will be a gathering to celebrate his life during the summer at Burt Lake.

Donations in his memory can be made to the Little Traverse Conservancy, The Tip of the Mitt Watershed Council, or McLaren Northern Michigan Hospice.