Beloved Austin doctor dies in bike accident

Published 10:12 am Monday, October 20, 2014

AUSTIN — Well-known Austin doctor Richard “Dick” Schindler, 72, has been identified as the body found near Riverland Community College Saturday morning.

A body, found Saturday morning in the wooded area west of the Riverland Community College, is carried to a waiting van. – Eric Johnson/Albert Lea Tribune

A body, found Saturday morning in the wooded area west of the Riverland Community College, is carried to a waiting van. – Eric Johnson/Albert Lea Tribune

Schindler died of injuries sustained in a bike accident, according to a Worlein Funeral Home obituary.

Schindler retired from Mayo Clinic Health System on Dec. 31, 2011, after almost 40 years of providing care to patients in the Austin and Adams areas. Schindler, a family medicine physician who began his career in Austin in July of 1972, saw generations of patients at Mayo Clinic Health System in Austin and Adams.

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He was also known as an Austin bicycling enthusiast, helping with the new Austin cycling team and completing a 2,900-mile cross-country bike ride with friends in 2011. Schindler was involved in the community in several ways, from his time with the YMCA to a scholarship he and his wife started with the Jay C. Hormel Nature Center.

“He was very involved, and very much loved in the community,” former Austin Mayor Bonnie Rietz said. “He was just an extraordinary person.”

A Mass of Christian burial will be held at 11 a.m. Thursday at St. Augustine Catholic Church in Austin with the Rev. James Steffes officiating.