Eddie Schneider was born in 1911 in Manhattan in New York City. His father was Emil August Schneider (1886-1955), a banker and stock broker who born in Germany. His mother was Inga Karoline Eldora Pedersen (1882-1927), who was born in Farsund, Norway. The family moved from Manhattan to Red Bank, New Jersey, and then they moved to Jersey City, New Jersey by 1920. Eddie graduated from Dickinson High School in Jersey City in 1927, the same year that his mother died. After his mother's death, he and his parents visited Bielefeld, Germany and Farsund, Norway to visit with relatives. In Germany Eddie went on a plane ride and then aviation became his obsession. In 1929 he trained at Roosevelt Field on Long Island and became the youngest person in the United States to receive a commercial pilot's license. That same year he also received a mechanics license, becoming the youngest licensed airplane mechanic in New York. 