• What is DeMolay
• History of the Organization
• History of the Emblem
• Our Namesake
• Our Founder
• The First DeMolay
• Author of our Ritual
• 100 DeMolays
• Stained Glass Window
• Hall of Fame

Edward T. Schafer

Senior DeMolay and Legion of Honor Edward T. Schafer was unanimously confirmed by the United States Senate and sworn in as the 29th U.S. Secretary of Agriculture. As Secretary, Ed Schafer oversees the Department of Agriculture’s $90 billion annual budget and its 107,000 employees. As a member of the President’s Cabinet, he is 9th in line to Presidential succession.

Before serving two highly successful terms as North Dakota’s Governor, Ed Schafer was a highly successful businessman. Ed was President of the Gold Seal Company, the 27th largest consumer products company in the United States, before it was sold. He surprised almost everyone when he declined to seek a third term as North Dakota’s Governor.

As Governor, Ed Schafer was very supportive of DeMolay. He was the Governor of North Dakota when the International Supreme Council and the International DeMolay Congress met in Bismarck in 1995. Many will recall his active involvement in our Convention. In addition to his involvement, First Lady Nancy Schafer hosted all the ladies at tea at the Governor’s Residence, and a large number of participants experienced the hospitality of Medora-the ranching community of Theodore Roosevelt, restored by the Schafer family.

Ed was an active member of the Bismarck DeMolay Chapter in his youth. His father, Harold Schafer, himself a Senior DeMolay and a member of the DeMolay Hall of Fame, was the DeMolay Executive Officer in North Dakota and a friend of Frank Land. The importance of DeMolay to Ed Schafer was emphasized when, as Governor, he wore his DeMolay jacket to his Bismarck High School class reunion, and listed the DeMolay Legion of Honor in his official biography and in the North Dakota Blue Book, the official historical record of the State.