Joanna Lisa Schulman

March 19, 2021

After a short and very aggressive illness, Joanna Lisa Schulman died on March 19, 2021 in Marin County, California. She died peacefully, surrounded by her devastated family who were holding her hands as love poured into the room from friends and family around the world.

Joanna was born in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania and lived in Zagreb, New York, Ashville and Santa Barbara before settling in Marin County. Joanna was brilliant, beautiful, adventurous, generous, and lived her life with gusto. She was an intellectual with a steel trap memory, never failing to know small details about obscure things. With degrees from Wesleyan University and University of California Santa Barbara, she was an accomplished businesswoman with a prolific career assisting biotech and life sciences companies who approached her work with the same passion and energy that defined her life. Her career and her professional colleagues many of whom became her dearest friends, meant everything to her. Joanna was a fervent lover of nature, her Tiburon community and international travel. She was a gourmet cook-always healthy of course, a wine connoisseur and was committed to social justice politics. She always knew the perfect place to find the best piece of fruit and the most stunning Marin trails where she hiked peacefully and immersed in the beauty around her.

Joanna cultivated her own brand of spirituality. She adored her cats and pretended that when she dressed them in costumes, they weren’t annoyed and was the kind of person who seemed to know just about everything about everything, always sharing interesting tidbits that she had read about eons ago. Joanna never took the slow and easy road- she challenged herself always to grow intellectually and spiritually and because of this her world was rich with color, meaning and depth. Her smile filled her entire face. Her expansive laugh bounced off the walls. She had so much style. When Joanna became ill, love and concern poured from all corners of the earth and her network of friends joined her family in shock, grief, and support. Joanna is now on her next journey. Another stamp added to her already robust passport. Joanna leaves behind her sister Ellen Schumm (Dan) and brother Robert Schulman (Lisa); her nephews Max and Gabe Schumm and nieces Annalise and Julia Schulman; and many cousins and friends in the Bay Area, New York, Philadelphia, Boston and around the world.

Due to the limitations imposed by the Covid 19 Pandemic a Memorial will be planned in the near future when friends and family can come together to share stories and memories, enjoy a perfectly curated glass of wine, hug each other in sorrow, and remember the wonderfulness of Joanna who lived impactfully, deeply, and whose life made a difference. Please consider a donation in Joanna’s name to the ACLU, Dogwood Animal Rescue Project or the FSHD Society.