Robert Redford, the Oscar-winning actor and director who died Tuesday morning at 89, was remembered by neighbors in the San Francisco Bay Area as a gracious, nature-loving presence who carried a deep sadness after the death of his son.
Residents of Tiburon, the affluent Marin County community where Redford lived for several years with his wife, Sibylle Szaggars, told the Daily Mail that he was a familiar figure on local trails and at restaurants. Several neighbors said he often greeted passersby, conversed with staff and maintained a low-key, unassuming demeanor.
A waiter at a bayside restaurant told the Daily Mail that Redford was a regular who sat at the same table weekly with his wife and friends, asking staff questions and showing interest in people. The waiter added that after the death of Redford’s son, James, in October 2020, the actor displayed a sustained grief. “He talked about how much he missed his son,” the waiter said. “It was a heartbreaking thing for him.”
James Redford, 58, died of cancer in October 2020. He had been diagnosed in the early 1990s with primary sclerosing cholangitis, a liver and bile-duct disease, and underwent two liver transplants in 1993. He later founded the James Redford Institute for Transplant Awareness and directed the 1999 documentary The Kindness of Strangers, which explored organ donation and transplantation.
Redford and his first wife, Lola Van Wagenen, had four children: Scott, Shauna, James and Amy. Their firstborn, Scott, died of sudden infant death syndrome at two months in 1959. Redford spoke in 2017 about the longstanding effect of that loss, saying it remained a part of his life even as he and his family moved forward.
Neighbors described Redford as a committed outdoorsman who knew local flora and fauna, frequently walking Tiburon’s trails when he was younger. One resident said seeing him on Main Street was “a great highlight” and that he would wave and say hello; others said Tiburon’s informal culture discouraged autograph requests and that locals preferred simple greetings.
Redford maintained a Tiburon house on the peninsula that overlooks San Francisco Bay, Angel Island and Keil Cove. The split-level cottage, built in 1968 and surrounded by redwood trees, is listed as 2,824 square feet and sits on a roughly 0.2-acre lot. The property, which Redford bought in 2020 for $3.1 million, was listed in December 2024 for $4.15 million and later sold for $4.65 million, according to the listing agent.
His departure from the Bay Area last year followed that listing. Neighbors said he told them he planned to spend more time in Santa Fe, New Mexico, where Szaggars runs an art business, and he had other properties, including a Napa Valley estate he sold in January 2019.
Redford maintained professional ties to the Bay Area through his work. He filmed parts of the 1972 political dramedy The Candidate in the region and both set and filmed the 1992 thriller Sneakers in the Bay Area. In 2009 he narrated Saving the Bay, a four-part KQED documentary about the region’s maritime ecology.
Redford’s publicist, Cindi Berger, told the Daily Mail that he died at his home at Sundance in the mountains of Utah, “the place he loved, surrounded by those he loved.”
Tiburon has long attracted notable residents and visitors; former residents have included Robin Williams, Barry Bonds and Carlos Santana. Neighbors said Redford’s presence in the town was quietly appreciated and that his combination of approachability and reserve left a lasting impression on the community.
Local recollections emphasized both Redford’s regular, small acts of courtesy and the private grief he carried in later years. Those memories underscore how the actor’s public prominence coexisted with a private life shaped by long-term personal loss and a deep affinity for the outdoors and the communities he lived in.