Ruth Adler Schnee Obituary, Funeral

Ruth Adler Schnee was an American textile designer and artist known for her modernist textile designs.

She was born in 1923 in Frankfurt, Germany, and immigrated to the United States in 1938 to escape the persecution of Jews in Nazi Germany.

Schnee studied at the Cranbrook Academy of Art in Michigan, where she became interested in textile design and began experimenting with new materials and techniques.

Her designs were known for their bold, abstract patterns and vibrant colors, and she became one of the leading figures in the mid-century modernist design movement.

Schnee’s work was exhibited in galleries and museums around the world and is held in the collections of major museums, including the Museum of Modern Art in New York and the Victoria and Albert Museum in London.

Ruth Adler Schnee Obituary

Ruth Adler Schnee, the Southfield-based legendary textile designer who helped usher in an entire movement to Michigan with her modernist patterns, died just months shy of her 100th birthday. She was 99 years old.

Ruth Adler Schnee Funeral

Just a few months shy of turning 100, Ruth Adler Schnee, an acclaimed textile designer from Southfield who was instrumental in bringing the modernist style to Michigan, passed away. She was 99 years old.

“Ruth Adler Schnee is among the small group of Detroiters who have helped define an international design sensibility,”

Kresge President and CEO Rip Rapson remarked at the time, noting Schnee’s achievement in an industry that was formerly totally male-dominated. “Her life and career have an exceptional sweep.”