Phyllis M. Schiller

Phyllis Mamber Schiller, 99, formerly of Waban, MA, and Newton Centre, MA, died on May 6, 2024, 17 days shy of her 100th birthday, in hospice care at the Orchard Cove retirement community, her home, in Canton, MA.

Phyllis – Phyd or Phydie as she was called by her many friends and her husband, the late Robert J. Schiller, and Mimi as her grandchildren called her – was born May 23, 1924, in Lynn, MA. She attended Lynn Classical High School and Boston University, which she left before graduating to support her mother, Anna Mamber, after the death at age 50 of her father. Harry Mamber, her father, was an Associate Justice of the Williamstown, MA, court and an attorney in Lynn, MA for 25 years. Harry inspired several generations of lawyers of whom Phyllis was very proud: Phyllis’s husband, her brother, her son, her daughter, one grandson, currently a law student, and another grandson, a law student beginning this fall. Debate at family gatherings was usually entertaining and Phyllis always gave as good as she got.

In her high school years and afterward, Phyllis’ home in Lynn served as a frequent gathering place for friends, the living room flooded by music, Jitterbug, and cigarette smoke. When her children were young, she served as a Cub Scout and Campfire Girls leader, managing to find ingenious ways to keep her troops learning, engaged, and laughing. When her children went to college, she worked for several years for a travel agency, leading tours of college students to Europe. She became passionate about travel, smitten in particular by Paris. She audited art history classes at Wellesley College. She was an early devotee of Julia Child and French cooking. She had stylish taste and a mischievous sense of humor. She was a ferocious ping-pong player, even into her later years. She loved dogs unreasonably. Phyllis had a talent for creating close relationships, and none were closer than her grandchildren.

Phyllis married Bob Schiller, her husband of 67 years, in 1947. The couple raised their two children, Rob and Heidi, in Brookline and Newton, MA. For seven years, she and Bob lived at Orchard Cove, and for nine years after Bob’s death, she continued in residence. She is survived by her son Robert J. Schiller Jr. and his wife Susan Jensen; her daughter Heidi Schiller and her husband Fletcher Blanchard; her three grandchildren Benjamin Schiller, Harry Schiller, and Ruby Schiller; and her step-granddaughter Emily Blanchard and her daughter Emily Grace Blanchard-Breslin.

A graveside service will be held at 9:45 am May 10, 2024, at Sharon Memorial Park, Sharon, MA. In lieu of flowers, donations may be made to the Scholarship Fund, Orchard Cove, 1 Del Pond Drive, Canton, MA 02021, or the charity of your choice.