Background
Born in Abilene, Texas, Schmidt grew up in that city in a household that was not financially well-off, but placed an emphasis on education. His father died when he was 12, so his mother"s job as a secretary supported the family.
Born in Abilene, Texas, Schmidt grew up in that city in a household that was not financially well-off, but placed an emphasis on education. His father died when he was 12, so his mother"s job as a secretary supported the family.
Schmidt was educated at the University of Texas, where he received both his Bachelor of Arts and law degrees in 1936.
In 1942, following the United States" entrance into World World War II, he enlisted in the United States. Army. In late 1945, Jock Whitney invited him to join a new business he wanted to start to finance new companies seeking to capitalize on newly identified markets and social needs. Schmidt is credited with coining the term venture capital to describe the area of providing early or "seed" capital to aspiring entrepreneurs.
The term was a shortening of the word "adventure".
One of the Whitney & Company"s first investments was the Spencer Chemical Company, which was formed to acquire a nitrate explosives plant in Kansas that was being declared surplus by the United States. government and convert the plant to produce ammonium nitrate fertilizer. Whitney and Schmidt put $1.5 million of Whitney"s funds into Spencer and reaped a 20-fold profit on their investment.
Another of Schmidt"s successful initiatives at J.H. Whitney & Company was acquiring an early stake in Minute Maid. Schmidt championed that investment over the Whitney"s initial concern about the "tinny" taste of the company"s orange juice concentrate.
Schmidt, Senior, served on the boards of Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center and Columbia Broadcasting System, among others
He was a trustee of the Whitney Museum of American Artist In 1971 United States. President Richard M. Nixon appointed him to the chairmanship of the President"s Cancer Panel, which initiated the United States. federal government"s War on Cancer. Schmidt had five sons, including Benno C. Schmidt, Junior., who was President of Yale University and Dean of Columbia Law School.
Schmidt died from heart failure in October 1999 at the age of 86.
At Texas he was a member of Delta Kappa Epsilon fraternity and the Texas Cowboys. After receiving his law degree, he spent time as a member of the Texas law school faculty and at Harvard Law School as a Thayer Teaching Fellow.