Robert Craig Schnitz

Robert Craig Schnitz, 75, passed peacefully at home August 7, 2020, with his wife and daughters at his side after a courageous 14 year battle with corticobasal degeneration, a rare neurodegenerative condition.

Mr. Schnitz was born in Evanston, Illinois, on April 21, 1945, the son of Louis and Violet Schnitz. He was a 1963 graduate of Evanston Township High School and member of their football, wrestling and golf teams. Mr. Schnitz received his Bachelor’s degree Magna Cum Laude in Slavic Language and Literature from Harvard College, where he lettered in golf. He studied Slavic Linguistics at Stanford University as the recipient of a National Defense Education Act Doctoral Fellowship. Mr. Schnitz interrupted his graduate program to serve as an Infantry Officer in the United States Army from 1968-1971 and later taught Russian at the National Defense Language Institute in Monterey, California.

Following graduation from the Harvard Law School in 1975, he joined the law firm of McBride, Baker and Coles in Chicago as a litigation attorney and later became Managing Partner of the firm. A lifelong Chicago Cubs fan who remembered taking the “El” to Wrigley Field as a boy on many summer afternoons, Mr. Schnitz was a North Shore resident most of his life, with homes in Evanston and Lake Forest. He had strong ties to both the Northwestern University Sheil Center and later, the Church of St. Mary in Lake Forest. He couldn’t remember a time when he did not enjoy music and studied piano, guitar and clarinet. His wife and children fondly remember his eclectic tastes in music and unpredictable sequences of Leon Redbone, Tchaikovsky, Cindy Lauper, Andrew Lloyd Weber, Enya and the Kingston Trio, and so the compact discs he packed for road trips were always a surprise to his family! He shared with them his fascination with astronomy and constellations and family stargazing at home or wherever they traveled together — on the prairie, on Pacific and Atlantic beaches, mountains and abroad — and they are remembered fondly. He retired from the practice of law in 2010 and moved to his home in Stono Ferry near Charleston, South Carolina. He enjoyed the many golfing opportunities that the Charleston area presented and came to love the beauty of the beaches, rivers, marshes and forests of the Low Country.

He is survived by Marilyn Giblin, his wife of 52 years, his daughters, Elizabeth of Asheville, North Carolina and Johanna of Boston, Massachusetts, his son, David (Andrea Macielag), of Manchester Center, Vermont and granddaughters Avianna and Isabelle Schnitz. He also leaves his brothers, Paul Schnitz of Los Altos, California and James Schnitz (Janet) of Holladay, Utah; a sister, Catherine Bachman (John) of Ocala, Florida; sisters-in-law Patricia Folven (Gary) of Hingham, Massachusetts and Carol Gribbons of Holden, Massachusetts, and many loving nieces and nephews in Massachusetts, Georgia, California, Colorado, Florida and Kansas.

The relatives and friends of Mr. and Mrs. Robert C. Schnitz are invited to attend his Mass of Christian Burial to be celebrated at 11:00 AM, Wednesday, August 12, 2020, at Holy Spirit Catholic Church, 3871 Betsy Kerrison Parkway, Johns Island. The Rite of Committal will follow in the Churchyard. The family will receive friends one hour prior to the service in the church. Due to current guidelines, social distancing will be practiced and masks will be kindly worn. In November, the family will host a gathering of thanksgiving in celebration of the life of Robert Schnitz.

The family is deeply grateful for the care and concern of the home primary care, physical therapy and prosthetic staff of the Ralph Johnson Veterans’ Medical Center, Southern Care Hospice staff and the MUSC students who assisted with his at-home care for the last two years.

Those who wish to do so may make a donation in his memory to Cure PSP, the primary national research organization focused on progressive supranuclear palsy and corticobasal degeneration (CurePSP.org, 1216 Broadway, 2nd Floor, New York, New York 10001).