Christiaan Schulte

Christiaan Schulte, age 77, of Wilmington, DE passed away surrounded by his family on February 17, 2017.

Christiaan was born in Amsterdam Holland in 1939. He attended Saint Francis College then Saint Nicholas Culinary School. He severed at the rank of Sergeant for the food service division in the Netherland’s Army before fulfilling his lifelong dream of immigrating to America. Christiaan married his sweetheart – Neeltje Kerkhoven of TreeBeek Netherlands in 1964 then settled in Wilmington DE working for the Three Little Bakers after winning a European baking contest. In 1967 the couple moved to Baltimore MD after giving birth to their two sons. Christiaan continued his education in Hotel and Restaurant Management resulting in a fabulous career including positions at the Baltimore SUN, NASA – Goddard Space Flight Center, Keswick Hospital, the Baltimore Convention Center, and others before returning to Delaware completing his career with the Bing Bakery.

In addition to his illustrious career, Christiaan was gifted with a green thumb. He was revered by neighbors and friends for his beautiful flower gardens and was honored in publications for growing record breaking vegetables. Christiaan was an avid dancer in his younger years; throughout his life he collected antiques and oil paintings. What people shall cherish and remember most will be his communications skills that transcended the generations with stories of his life and dreams.

Christiaan is survived by his wife of 52 years, Neeltje Schulte of Wilmington DE, son Chris Schulte of Independence OR and grandson Dale Schulte of Smyrna DE. He is preceded in death by his first born son Eugene of Clayton DE; his parents, Bernard and Antje-Maria Schulte of The Netherlands.