Envoy Schnabel Visits His Other Home

The frozen Baltic and the icy cold of Finland have not chilled the bones of U.S. Ambassador to Finland Rockwell Schnabel and his wife, Marna, this past year.

On holiday, they opted for skiing at Aspen between Christmas and New Year’s. They were guests of their friend, Teddy Forstmann, whose firm just bought Lear Siegler Inc.

Most of the time, however, on this first visit here from Helsinki since August, they’ve had fun with family and old friends, and supervised the building of their house on the Westside.

The architect is Frank O. Gehry (best known for his Temporary Contemporary downtown museum). The style will be light and open, the construction of copper and galvanized steel. Completion is at least 1 1/2 years away, the ambassador said.

Meanwhile, the Schnabels only have eyes for Finland. Since he was sworn in in Washington a year ago, Schnabel has been the official U.S. representative to a country “very small, very exciting and a very attractive place to live--from the beautiful surroundings of nature to the economic standpoint.”

Standing on the terrace of their leased Brentwood home, with a view of the Pacific in the distance, Schnabel praised Finland:

‘A Good Relationship’

“We have a good relationship with Finland. The Finnish people are very capitalistic and pro-West, and they like Americans.”

He noted that Finland’s largest trade partner is the Soviet Union but said Finland is very much stressing trade with the West, including the United States.

Schnabel takes it all as a challenge: “It’s a great, super-great, opportunity to serve. It’s a very active job for both of us, communicating regarding the greatest product in the world--democracy and the United States. You can do that 24 hours a day.”

Schnabel, 49, reached his ambassadorship via the business community, where he rose to prominence as an investment banker.

Born outside Amsterdam, he graduated from Trinity College in the Netherlands, served in the Dutch army, then came to the United States in 1957 to visit California relatives.

He spent six years with the California Air National Guard, concurrently taking his first job in the brokerage business as a research analyst with Quincy Cass Associates Inc.

He moved to Bateman, Eichler, Hill, Richards Inc. in 1965, stayed 18 years, becoming chairman of the executive committee. He sold his 20% stake in Bateman, Eichler to Kemper Corp. and joined Morgan, Olmstead, Kennedy & Gardner in 1983.

When he was named ambassador, he resigned as deputy chairman of Morgan, Olmstead and also resigned his board membership on Pic ‘n’ Save Corp. and on foreign companies.

“A totally clean slate, and I’ve spent 110% of my time being an American ambassador,” he said.

International Credits

Schnabel’s international interests have been varied. In 1981, the government of South Africa presented him with the Commander of the Order of Good Hope at a black-tie dinner at the Los Angeles Country Club.

During the Olympics in Los Angeles, he was the Netherlands’ attache to the Olympics, prompting some to conjecture he would be named the ambassador to Holland.

Instead, it was Finland.

The Schnabels met when she was an undergraduate at USC, a Delta Gamma nearly all friends label as “brilliant.”

After graduation with an architecture degree, she worked for IBM as a systems engineer but resigned when her children were small. Later, when they were in school, she began working for Frank O. Gehry (she helped him on the displays for the King Tut exhibit) and then ran unsuccessfully in the 1978 California Republican primary for state treasurer.

For five years, Marna Schnabel, daughter of Bruce and Mary Del Mar of Laguna Beach, has been on the payroll of her father’s electronics company, Del Mar Avionics in Costa Mesa.

Expects to Go Back

When the Schnabels move back to Los Angeles, she expects to rejoin the company full time. It manufactures, designs and sells medical electronics monitoring equipment. It specializes in the Holter monitor, a device that provides 24-hour ambulatory monitoring of heart rhythms with computer analysis.

Says her close friend Susan Niven (they were Brownies together): “She’s one of those special people who covers all the bases. Brought up three kids and did it right, supportive of her husband . . . one of the most incredible people I know.

“They are the most fun people. They’re athletic. She plays on the volleyball team with the embassy staff. They’re great skiers. . . . They were doing cross-country on the Baltic, which freezes over. . . . When we were in Hawaii last summer, Rock and my husband climbed inside Diamond Head crater. We played a lot of bridge. It was all very informal. They talk on any issue. And they’re very family oriented.”

The Schnabels’ daughter Darrin, 21, is a junior at USC, but last summer attended the University of Hawaii to study dolphin language. Christy, 19, is a sophomore at New York University. Evan is a 16-year-old at Aiglon in Switzerland.

When the Schnabels arrived in Helsinki, they paid nearly 40 courtesy calls, including some to NATO ambassadors (13 of them) who meet monthly for lunch. The British, French, Belgian and Portuguese embassies are close by, creating a “fairly close diplomatic corps.”

Stream of Visitors

Officially, there is a steady stream of business and government leaders visiting the American embassy and residence, a Georgian colonial house with executive offices attached.

“We have about 125 people--half American, half Finn. Some represent the USIA, some the departments of commerce, defense, state, and there are economic, political, administrative and security sections.”

And, officially, they host two sit-down dinners a week for 24 to 30 and various luncheons and stand-up receptions matching business and political leaders with Finnish counterparts.

“The residence is very comfortable,” says Marna. “Traditional in style, a formal house with tall ceilings, much of the furniture perhaps reproduction Williamsburg, and lots of comfortable sofas.”

Both enjoy the Finnish design orientation and also admire what he notes is the country’s “gorgeous green--60,000 islands, 60,000 lakes.”

Together, the family biked four days last summer, going from one inn to another.

Too, the ambassador praises Finland’s relative safety.

“Yes, we have an armored car, a lot of security, but Finland, neutral since World War II, is a safe country where the president can walk on the streets alone--he rides his bicycle and is seen doing that, and I go out running in the park. Helsinki is a safe city, low crime rate, very little drugs.”

And they like the Finns’ life style: “They live with nature. Many of them have summer homes, not palaces--they’re relatively small. They live simply, they fish, hike and sail.”

And, everybody has a sauna. Says Marna: “Business is conducted in the sauna.”

Elaborating, Schnabel says, “It is a great honor when you are invited to someone’s sauna at home--you’re considered making progress.

“I have been in office buildings--major banks in the middle of the city--on the 10th floor with the dining room attached. You arrive in a business suit. You take a sauna--then you take a swim, you have a drink and a meal in the dining room and you discuss your business.”

Did he know when he accepted the ambassadorship about this business ritual?

“Not to the extent they have it. It’s an important part of their lives . . . the courtesy isn’t always extended to the outsider. Vice President Bush, when he came, had a sauna with the president of Finland. . . . We have a sauna in the embassy, but I do not use it for business meetings.”

What do they enjoy least about this appointment?

“The language is not typical,” says Marna. “It’s called an Urgic language; the closest language is maybe Estonian, Hungarian. . . . It’s not similar to any word that you know.” They both studied the language but, because of time commitments, have not perfected it. Thus, they converse in English, easy because 90% of the Finnish people consider English a second language, and the younger generation speaks it fluently.

Then, standing on the terrace, Marna looks over the Brentwood Hills and muses: “This is what I miss--the sunshine. You can count on the weather here. You wake up and know it’s going to be a reasonable day.”

It wasn’t exactly a reasonable day for them after Chernobyl.

The ambassador explains: “We awoke one good Sunday morning and heard the news. And we found Chernobyl was 700 miles from Helsinki. Finland initially was to be one of the places of great impact. There was never any danger level. There was an increase in the level of radioactivity, but compared to safety standards, it was at all times within levels of safety. We stayed right there at the embassy, as did all the employees.”