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Photographer Terry Shuchat ’62 helped end the Cuban Missile
Crisis. Really, he’s not making this up.
When Adali Stevenson went before the United Nations in 1962 accusing
the Soviet Union of planting missile silos in Cuba, he had detailed
photographic evidence in hand. Shuchat was head of the unit that
processed those history-changing pictures. “It was fun,”
says Shuchat. “We got to go to war, sort of. If staying in
Tampa, Florida, is war.”
Shuchat approaches life with an irreverent sense of humor, but
he is definitely serious about helping Willamette students. He recently
endowed a scholarship that is designated for students who are doing
well but haven’t excelled academically. “So many scholarships
are based  on
academic merit,” says Shuchat. “I thought it’d
be nice to try and help out those students who are certainly qualified
to attend Willamette but are maybe not outstanding enough to earn
one of the many scholarships it offers.”
Shuchat’s empathy for more middle-of-the-curve students
comes from his own college experience. He willingly admits that
he wasn’t one of Willamette’s star pupils. “I
was certainly not at the top of my class by any means. I never made
it on the Dean’s List, but I also never made it on the Dean’s
List that gets you thrown out.”
While he wasn’t thrown out of Willamette, Shuchat left after
his sophomore year to pursue a degree in photography from Ohio University.
Photography has been the overriding passion in Shuchat’s life
since the ninth grade. That’s when he began working in a small
camera store for a man who would become his business partner, Dick
Keeble. After college and the Air Force, Shuchat and Keeble opened
a modest camera store in Palo Alto, Calif., which is now the largest
in Northern California.
While Shuchat had always planned to open a camera store, its remarkable
success is a complete surprise. “I am doing exactly what I’ve
always wanted to do. And what’s wonderful about it is the
business has been a great deal more successful than I ever would
have conceived. People have said, ‘Well, what was your business
plan?’ I’d say, ‘Show up in the morning at 9 o’clock
and open the door and hope someone comes in.’”
Shuchat may be leading a charmed life, but he is conscious about
sharing his success – particularly with Willamette. Ohio University
might have defined his career path, but Willamette gave Shuchat
friends, memories and lessons that he still carries today. “I
really believe that 50 percent of what you learn in college comes
from living in the dorms with other students. You learn a lot about
being on your own and how to get along with people. Willamette was
a great place to make that first step beyond high school.”
Though he never graduated from Willamette, Shuchat will always
remember it as a place where an every-day kid could find some focus
to his life. “I just like the
atmosphere at Willamette. It was like a home away from home. Helping
out the University a little bit makes me feel good.”
– Brad Millay ’97
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