Elisabeth Renate Schiffer

Lisa Schiffer died peacefully at her home on November 15, 2016 after a yearlong battle with cancer. Lisa was intact mentally and emotionally almost to the end. Throughout the final weeks and days, she maintained her wry sense of humor and elegant European ways. Her beloved son Johann Schiffer and dear friends Sharon Tiller, Judy Saldamando, Lucy Kaplan and George Cohen attended to her daily or nightly throughout the final months of her life. Lisa is survived by her only son Jan Schiffer of Berkeley and only sister Ingrid Voerg of Germany.

Lisa was born July 10,1939 in Berlin, Germany. During and after WWII, she spent her early childhood in Mettingen, a rural village in North Rhine-Westphalia that was a haven from the devastation of the war. Her family later moved to Dusseldorf, where she lived until she went to university in Berlin. There she met and fell in love with Peter Schneider, who later became a renowned post war writer and intellectual. They remained friends throughout her life.

Lisa came to the US from Germany in 1967 to study German literature in the graduate program at UC Berkeley, where she received her MA degree and continued to work toward a PhD. Later she earned her MFT and maintained a therapy practice in Berkeley for three decades.

Into her seventies Lisa continued to play tennis, take dance classes and hike the hidden paths of the Berkeley Hills. She was a member of the Claremont Club for years where she developed lifelong friendships.