STEELEVILLE - Dr. Egon Franz Schneider, 86, of Steeleville, passed peacefully on January 22, 2015 surrounded by his loving family. He was born in Greifendorf, in the Czech Republic in June of 1928. He immigrated to Germany after WWII and received his medical education in Vienna, Austria and Heidelberg, Germany. He married Irma Bittner in October 1951 and they then immigrated to the United States to New York City in 1952. There, although licensed to practice medicine in Germany, he repeated an internship to meet US license requirements at a Brooklyn hospital. The following year, he moved to Chicago to continue his surgical training. After two years, he decided he wanted to have an independent practice and moved his young family to Carrier Mills, Illinois in 1954. Hearing of an opportunity in a small community with a German heritage, he came to Steeleville, Illinois, in 1955, to raise is family and establish his practice. He was the prototypical small town physician, where he delivered babies, performed surgery at the Chester Memorial Hospital, and practiced general medicine, until his retirement in December of 1996. He is survived by his wife Irma and four children, Dr. Petra Schneider-Redden (Curt Redden) from Hattiesburg, MS, Dr. Bodo Schneider from St. Louis, MO, Dr. Claudia Nugent (Tracy Nugent) from Champaign, IL and Eugene Schneider (Staci Schneider) from Carmi, IN. He has seven grandchildren, Ellyse, Phillip, Alexandra, Hagan, Leo, Reni and Lorin. A memorial service is planned for later this year and will be announced separately. The preferred form of remembrance are donations to the Steeleville Public Library or Hospice of Southern Illinois in his name. Funeral is under auspices of Wilson's Funeral Home in Steeleville.