Gunilla Haac passed into eternity on Friday, February 16, 2024. She was born on October 23, 1938, in Norrkoping, Sweden. She was the number one student in all of Sweden when she graduated high school, spoke several languages and went to Paris to attend law school at the Sorbonne University. After she graduated, she became an associate professor of law at the Sorbonne.
In 1972 she married her second husband, Oscar Haac, and moved to the United States with her two daughters, Isabelle and Beatrice, whose father Michel Turpin preceded her in death in 1990. She got her 2nd law degree at Columbia University in New York.
She was an accomplished lawyer at Bank of America, where she wrote multi billion dollar mergers and acquisition deals, and ended her legal career at Morrison & Foerster, where she was Of Counsel.
She traveled all over the world (even rode an elephant in Thailand), loved the opera, attending art exhibits, and seeing plays in NYC where she lived with her husband, Oscar, who predeceased her in 2000. She collected native American pottery from the pueblos in the Southwest. She was an avid reader and had over 5,000 books in her apartment. She completed the NY Times Sunday crossword puzzle each week. She loved everything Shakespeare. She was also a great animal lover, especially cats and all wildlife. Gunilla was kind and had a beautiful smile. She will be greatly missed by those who loved her.
Gunilla was the only child of Hugo and Hillevi Nohrlander. She is survived by her two daughters, Isabelle Schaffner (husband Steve) of Stilwell, KS, and Beatrice Turpin of Montreuil, France; her two stepchildren, Alice Vessell and Clifford Haac (wife Linda); three grandchildren, Christi Vessell, Anna Haac (husband Justin Baird), and Bryce Haac (husband Edem Binka). In addition, she has 5 great-grandchildren: Allison, Hudson, Emory, Elikem, and Senya.
Donations in Gunilla's memory can be made to the World Wildlife Fund. 1-800-CALL-WWF or
Click Here to donate online.
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