[1][2] He was one of many pioneers in the study of color field, and has been credited with establishing the city of San Francisco as an International design center.
[3][4] Born on June 26, 1886, in Clare, Michigan, to Mary Hirzel and German immigrant and miller, Julius Schaeffer.
[5] By 1910 he moved to California and started teaching at the Throop Polytechnic Elementary School in Pasadena, working with Ernest A. Batchelder.
[1][5] During his time in Munich, World War I broke out and caused delays in his return to the United States due to a shortage of boats and family issues.
Schaeffer was greatly influenced by Japanese aesthetics, philosophy and design and in the 1920s he was teaching these principals.