ROY LESTER SCHNEIDER, M.D., was born in St. Thomas, U.S. Virgin Islands. He received a bachelor’s degree in 1961 and a medical degree in 1965 from Howard University. He was a captain in the U.S. Army from 1966 to 1968, serving as a medical adviser and surgeon in Vietnam from 1967 to 1968. There he received the Bronze Star from the U.S. government and the Vietnamese Honor Medal First Class and the Technical Service Honor Medal from the country of Vietnam. From 1977 to 1987 he was commissioner of health for the U.S. Virgin Islands. He was elected governor in 1994.