--- description: "He was symbolic of hope for a lot of us" title: Margaret Cho Remembers Robin Williams image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt3d3d8bf3bfa550d5/69869f37cd804d48ceccc50c/robin-williams-4.jpg?branch=production&width=3840&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  * [Entertainment](/section/entertainment/) ## Entertainment Update your preferences in [Account Settings](/account/preferences/) Close * [remembrance](/tag/remembrance/) ## remembrance Update your preferences in [Account Settings](/account/preferences/) Close # Margaret Cho Remembers Robin Williams: He Was a 'Father Figure' by [Larry Getlen](/author/larry-getlen/) ## Larry Getlen Update your preferences in [Account Settings](/account/preferences/) Close Aug 12, 2014 5:00 PM CUT  Paul Archuleta—FilmMagic/Getty Images; Jason LaVeris—FilmMagic/Getty Images by [Larry Getlen](/author/larry-getlen/) ## Larry Getlen Update your preferences in [Account Settings](/account/preferences/) Close Aug 12, 2014 5:00 PM CUT Comedian Margaret Cho grew up in San Francisco, a city with such close ties to Robin Williams, [who died Aug. 11 at age 63](http://time.com/3101990/robin-williams-dead-63/ "undefined"), that its own mayor [released a statement](http://time.com/3101990/robin-williams-dead-63/ "undefined") about his death. Here, Cho remembers the late actor as a generous and supportive paternal figure in the San Francisco comedy community: --- > “” --- ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/3103608/robin-williams-dead-margaret-cho-remembrance/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/3103608/robin-williams-dead-margaret-cho-remembrance/"},"headline":"Margaret Cho Remembers Robin Williams: He Was a 'Father Figure'","datePublished":"2014-08-12T17:00:16.000Z","dateModified":"2026-02-21T09:37:07.291Z","description":"\"He was symbolic of hope for a lot of us,\" Cho says","url":"https://time.com/3103608/robin-williams-dead-margaret-cho-remembrance/","keywords":["remembrance","celebrities","robin williams"],"thumbnailUrl":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt3d3d8bf3bfa550d5/69869f37cd804d48ceccc50c/robin-williams-4.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"Larry Getlen","jobTitle":null,"url":"https://time.com/author/larry-getlen/"}],"articleSection":"Entertainment","image":[{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt3d3d8bf3bfa550d5/69869f37cd804d48ceccc50c/robin-williams-4.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","width":1200,"height":675,"headline":"Robin Williams Death","caption":"Robin Williams Death","creditText":"Paul Archuleta—FilmMagic/Getty Images; Jason LaVeris—FilmMagic/Getty Images","representativeOfPage":true}],"publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"Time","url":"https://time.com/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://time.com/images/logo.png","width":528,"height":156},"foundingDate":"March 3, 1923","sameAs":["https://www.facebook.com/time","https://www.instagram.com/time/?hl=en","https://twitter.com/time","https://www.pinterest.com/timemagazine"]}},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"item":{"@id":"/section/entertainment/","name":"Entertainment"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"item":{"@id":"/tag/remembrance/","name":"remembrance"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":3,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/3103608/robin-williams-dead-margaret-cho-remembrance/","name":"Margaret Cho Remembers Robin Williams: He Was a 'Father Figure'"}}]},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"VideoObject","name":"Remembering Robin WIlliams: Watch The Actor's Best Performances","description":"Remembering Robin Williams: Supercut","thumbnailUrl":"https://cdn.jwplayer.com/v2/media/wrXgMxVS/poster.jpg?width=720","uploadDate":"2014-08-12T14:12:59.000Z","contentUrl":"https://cdn.jwplayer.com/manifests/wrXgMxVS.m3u8","embedUrl":"https://time.com/3103608/robin-williams-dead-margaret-cho-remembrance/","duration":"PT4M11S","potentialAction":{"@type":"SeekToAction","target":"https://time.com/3103608/robin-williams-dead-margaret-cho-remembrance/?jw_start={seek_to_second_number}","startOffset-input":"required name=seek_to_second_number"}}] ```