Saturday, July 14, 1990

Obituary: Rodney Scheel

Restaurateur Scheel Succumbs

A Madison nightclub and restaurant operator died Thursday of AIDS complications.

Rodney Scheel, 39, owned and operated a number of clubs and a restaurant in the former Hotel Washington at 636 W. Washington Ave. Mr. Scheel purchased the building in 1975 and over the years renovated much of the hotel, which was popular with railroad passengers at the turn of the century.

The hotel is the home of Club de Wash, Rod's, Cafe Palms and Barber's Closet, with the clubs and restaurants retaining much of the period design.

Mr. Scheel was a lifelong Madison resident. He graduated from Central High School.

Originally published in The Capital Times as a news story on July 14, 1990

Note: Rodney Scheel attended Central High School; however, a June 4, 1970 article in The Capital Times lists his name among the students graduating from Madison East High School.

2 comments:

Ethan Schwebke said...

Rodney was also a member of the last class plus one, 1970.
RIP Rodney

roxanne szolwinski said...

Rodey was.a.life long friend of mine -growing up next door to each other. Boy the thimgs we used to get into!!! my earliest memory of Rodney was in Kindergarden..... he sat next to me we were learning how to read" see spot run" when Rodney leaned over by me and threw up all over my book!!!!!!! Believe it or not Rodney was very shy.... in Kindergarden i asked our teacher Mr Peterson if i could sing Rodney part of a song we were learning because he couldnt sing in front of everyone... I could go on an on .... Rodney it was a privilage to have been a part of your life....Love Roxanne Emordeno