President and CEO
March 8, 2014 –Dennis A. Schoville, a San Diego attorney and highly decorated Army helicopter flight section commander during Vietnam, has been named President and CEO of the Miramar National Cemetery Support Foundation. He joined the Board in November 2012.
Schoville succeeds Dr. Gary Parks, who died Feb. 4, 2014, after a short illness. He was 70. Dr. Parks had led the Foundation since 2008.
A native of Richland Center, Wis., Schoville joined the Army after graduating from the University of Wisconsin, Madison, and trained as a helicopter pilot. While serving in Vietnam, he was awarded two Silver Stars, the Distinguished Flying Cross, the Bronze Star, and three Purple Hearts, along with several other Air Medals and service awards.
Schoville is a Life Member of the Vietnam Helicopter Pilot’s Association, and is past national general counsel, secretary and board member of the Distinguished Flying Cross Society. He currently is a director of the San Diego Veterans’ Museum and Memorial Center where he chairs the Combat/Military Nurse Support Project.
“Our Foundation is very proud to have Dennis join our Board of Directors,” said Dr. Gary Parks, Foundation President and CEO. “Dennis displayed outstanding courage and commitment with his war record and is a true American Hero. His list of accomplishments within the legal community is far-reaching to say the least. I have known Dennis for years and find him to be an outstanding person.”
“I look forward to serving our veteran community and their families,” said Schoville. “I view it as an honor and privilege to work on their behalf by serving on the Fort Rosecrans and Miramar Cemetery Support Foundation Board of Directors.”
Following his medical retirement from active duty at the rank of captain, Schoville earned a law degree from the Illinois Institute of Technology in 1973, and a master’s degree in law at Northwestern University in 1974.
For the next 23 years, Schoville was an associate and then partner at San Diego’s biggest law firm, Gray, Cary, Ames & Frye, and later with Gray Cary Ware & Freidenrich. He established the firm of Schoville & Arnell in 1997, where he primarily practices personal injury, products liability and insurance law.
Throughout his legal career, Schoville has garnered honors that have included six Outstanding Trial Advocacy Awards by the San Diego Trial Lawyers Association. The Consumer Attorneys of San Diego named him “Trial Lawyer of the Year” and “Consumer Advocate of the Year.”
In 2009 the California chapter of the American Board of Trial Advocates selected
Schoville as “Trial Lawyer of The Year for the State of California.” And five times during the years 2007 to 2012, Superlawyers rated Schoville the highest of all San Diego County attorneys.
In 2012, Schoville was inducted into the Trial Lawyers Hall of Fame by the Consumer Attorneys of San Diego. For more than 10 years, he was listed in the Best Lawyers in America publication in the areas of product liability, personal injury and medical malpractice.
Schoville and his wife, Michele, live in Jamul, Calif. They have two adult children, Stephanie and Sean, who are San Diego County residents.