Joyce Schneider

Joyce Ream Schneider died peacefully on Sunday, August 28, 2022, at the age of 90. Born into a peripatetic military family, Joyce learned early on the joys of travel, and it bred in her a lifelong appetite for discovering new places and new things. And wherever she went, she took a book. Books were her refuge as a child in Bogota and her inspiration as a student at Smith. Reading and travel were two of her great passions, passions she shared with friends and family, especially with Michael, her beloved husband, who died in 2010.

At the same time, wherever she and Michael went and wherever they lived: in New York, London, or Washington D.C., San Francisco remained Joyce’s real hometown: where she raised a family and made her mark. A lifelong Democrat and supporter of women’s rights, she always found a way to contribute to what she believed in, whether volunteering for the League of Women Voters, running for the Board of Supervisors, working with the city’s public schools, serving as Fire Commissioner or, for more than a decade, acting as San Francisco’s Director for the Commission on Aging.

One of Joyce’s last goals was to paint a purple streak in her hair and live in an artist’s atelier in Paris. Her mischievous sense of humor, lifelong curiosity, and zeal for new vistas endeared Joyce to everyone. Her memory remains an inspiration for those she left behind: children Claudia Fisher, Sarah Myhill, and Benjamin Ream, stepchildren Karen and Maia Schneider, and grandchildren Lindsay, Grace, Nicholas, Caroline, and Matthew. A family memorial service will be held in the springtime. In lieu of flowers, donations may be made to The League of Women Voters.