[2] In March 1927 Schaefer married his childhood friend, Lillian Evers of Neustadt, Ontario.
Schaefer served with the Royal Canadian Air Force as an Official Second World War artist from 1943 to 1946, using watercolour, ink or graphite to capture his images.
[5] He taught at Central Technical School in Toronto, beginning in 1930, and at the Ontario College of Art from 1948 to 1970.
[7] Schaefer received an honorary doctorate from the University of Waterloo in 1976[8] and was awarded the Order of Canada two years later.
[11] After a lengthy illness Schaefer died from pneumonia at Sunnybrook Health Science Centre, Toronto at the age of 92.