The Actors' Fund Isn't
Just For Actors
For 80-year old songwriter Aaron Shroeder and his wife Abby, it provided a welcome environment to age gracefully
The Actors' Fund of America is a national human services organization that helps out a lot more than the actors in its name. It also assists songwriters, singers, music publishers, musicians, arrangers, conductors, record producers and many more in the entertainment industry.
Music titan Aaron Schroeder currently resides at The Actors' Fund Home in Englewood, New Jersey. Schroeder is a music legend – as a songwriter, producer and music publisher – and an ASCAP member since 1948, when he penned a song for Rosemary Clooney's first single release, "At a Sidewalk Penny Arcade." Aaron's years in the business reads like a pantheon of greatest hits with hundreds of his songs recorded by legends like Frank Sinatra, Tony Bennett, Nat King Cole, Elvis Presley, Barry White and the Beatles. His classic tune "It's Now or Never" was named one of the Top 100 songs of the 20th Century by Billboard – it sits at #5.
Though songwriting was his first love, Aaron also formed his own publishing company, and one of the pioneer independent record labels, Musicor. He produced a string of hits for Gene Pitney with some of the greatest writers and arrangers of the ‘60s. He was a consummate industry insider during the ‘50s and ‘60s. With his wife, Abby, he became a force in the music industry through the ‘60s and ‘70s, shepherding such rising luminaries as Randy Newman, Al Kooper and Jimi Hendrix.
All too soon, Aaron developed heart problems and the Schroeders needed to find a less hectic lifestyle. They sold the music publishing business in 1978 and relocated to the Berkshires. But over several years, Aaron became forgetful and experienced personality changes. Eventually he was diagnosed with a rare dementia and as the disease progressed, Abby knew she had to find a place and people who could make the most of Aaron's waning abilities and offer him the very best professional care.
It was pure serendipity that Abby discovered The Actors' Fund assisted living facility in New Jersey. "I didn't think we'd be eligible," Abby recalled. But a tour of the home convinced her that this was the right place for Aaron. "On acres, it's homey and delightful," said Abby. "We met the people living there, all in the various shades of aging. It is a family. A community comprised of performing arts professionals."
After seeing first-hand the difference The Actors' Fund makes in peoples' lives, Abby decided to get more involved. She is now on The Fund's Board of Directors, the founding chairperson of The Friends of the Lillian Booth Actors' Home and is organizing a performing arts series at the residence. As for Aaron, he is comfortable and has made many friends among the other residents and staff of the home. He recently celebrated his 80th birthday there with all the good folk who have become such a big part of the Schroeders' life.
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