How Did Susan Schneider Meet Robin Williams?

Robin Williams fell for graphic designer Susan Schneider when she was working at a boutique in San Francisco in 2007. Susan served art prints to Williams when he wandered into her store looking for a birthday present for his son. Their little exchange of art led to coffee dates which brought about much more. As he grew older, Schneider became his North Star. The actress said the couple had a wonderful and very intimate wedding at a vineyard in 2011 and that he wept during their vows to each other. Their love is one of those beautifully unusual events which happens in the most mundane of circumstances. And it is so terribly sad to remember now.

What is most remarkable about Susan is how she manages to be her husband’s anchor while still remaining whole herself. In the years since Robin’s passing, she has been a vocal advocate for issues faced by caregivers as well as for increased awareness of brain disease. Her grief inspires her to keep working towards better outcomes for all. The couple’s remarkable love story can now serve as a testament to the quiet power of partnership.

Actress Robin Williams came into Susan Schneider's life by accident. She was working at a boutique when the disheveled actor appeared in front of her humming a show tune. After some banter with Schneider over a Salvador Dalì print of a clock, in which the actor claimed the work was a metaphor for his career 'always melting under pressure,' the actress shot back that the work and the subject of the print were surrealism and male ego. Needless to say, the two locked immediately.

No fireworks here. Instead there were long, grueling nights of Robin endlessly discussing quantum physics with her, and bland, gray days of them silently wandering the beach on foggy days. The only time he ever said that she could ‘out-weird’ him was after she had read Dalí for homework and stated her premise for decorating his pacific beachfront home with all Dalí work, but that was a long time before the end. This is one of the truest love stories ever.

I first met Robin in front of the store on Union Street where I worked. The store was stocked with vintage items that I re-arranged daily in the window display. On this particular day I was creating a new look with old posters when suddenly there he was with his wild eyebrows and neon-green hoodie. I couldn’t tell if he was going to be a customer or just observe me as I worked. Instead he approached the window and began to comment on the psychological undertones of a Warhol banana print that I had included in the display. He introduced himself and told me that he was looking for a skateboard for his son and that he had wandered into the store to see if they had any in stock. I showed him the skateboards and we continued to talk long after he had purchased the skateboard for his son. It turned out that Robin was very into art and that he found my work very interesting. We also discovered that we were both very into neuroscience and that I was reading a lot of books on the subject. I was even more impressed. I was also very into puns of the worst kind and he seemed to be as well.

Susan portrays themselves and Robin as being ‘normal’. They went on a normal first date to a park where they fed the ducks and discussed whether or not the ducks had regional accents. Then Robin would secretly leave love notes in her sketchbooks and draw creatures that he called ‘Schneider-Williams creatures’. It was beautiful in that it was odd and that it was real and tender and that Robin wanted that too.