Bob Saget Ethnicity, Race & Heritage: Is He Mixed Race? Full Background Explained

Quick answer: Bob Saget was not mixed race — he was of full Ashkenazi Jewish heritage. His father, Benjamin Saget, was the son of Latvian and Russian Jewish immigrants, and his mother, Rosalyn "Dolly" Cromer, was the daughter of two Russian Jewish parents. Bob Saget identified strongly with his Jewish heritage throughout his life and career.

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Is Bob Saget Mixed Race? Is He Biracial?

No — Bob Saget was not mixed race or biracial. He was fully of Ashkenazi Jewish heritage, with both parents being Jewish Americans of Eastern European immigrant descent. His father's family came from Latvia and Russia, and his mother's family came from Russia. Bob Saget was raised in the Jewish faith, received his early religious education at Temple Israel in Norfolk, Virginia (a Conservative synagogue), and identified as Jewish throughout his life and career.

Saget's ethnicity was Jewish — specifically Ashkenazi Jewish, meaning his ancestors came from the Jewish communities of Central and Eastern Europe. This is a distinct ethnic identity that spans religious, cultural, and genealogical traditions going back millennia. While Ashkenazi Jews as a group have historically been categorized as white in American racial demographics, Jewish identity encompasses a unique ethnic heritage that goes well beyond racial classification.

In terms of race, background, and heritage, Bob Saget was an American Jewish man whose family story represents the classic Eastern European Jewish immigrant narrative: grandparents fleeing persecution in the Russian Empire and Latvia to build new lives in America, raising children who became part of the American middle class, and grandchildren who became entertainers.

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What Was Bob Saget's Ethnicity?

Bob Saget's ethnicity was Ashkenazi Jewish. Born in Philadelphia on May 17, 1956, he grew up in a Jewish household where his heritage was a defining part of family life and identity. He was the son of a supermarket executive and a hospital administrator, both of Jewish descent, and grew up attending synagogue and participating in Jewish cultural traditions.

His Jewish heritage informed much of his comedic sensibility — the self-deprecating humor, the ability to navigate between "clean" public persona and edgier private persona, the comfort with complexity and contradiction — all of which are qualities that have long been associated with the American Jewish comedy tradition that gave the world Mel Brooks, Woody Allen, Larry David, Jerry Seinfeld, and countless others.

Saget spoke about his Jewish identity with affection and humor across his career. The combination of his wholesome Danny Tanner persona from Full House and his notoriously raunchy stand-up style became one of the defining comedic dichotomies of his generation — a dichotomy that Jewish-American entertainers have navigated throughout the 20th century.

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Father's Side: Latvian and Russian Jewish Roots

Bob Saget's father, Benjamin M. Saget, was the son of Isadore Saget — a Latvian Jewish immigrant — and Jennie, a Russian Jewish immigrant. The Saget family's origins in Latvia place them within the Litvak tradition — Jews from Lithuania and Latvia who were known for their emphasis on religious scholarship and learning.

The Latvian and Russian Jewish communities from which the Sagets came were devastated by the Holocaust and the violence of the early 20th century. The decision of Bob's paternal grandparents, Isadore and Jennie, to immigrate to the United States was almost certainly driven by the waves of anti-Jewish violence — the pogroms — that swept through the Russian Empire and its territories in the late 19th and early 20th centuries.

Benjamin Saget rose to become a supermarket executive, representing the next generation's achievement of the American Dream. He raised his son Robert (Bob) with an awareness of their Jewish heritage and the family's immigrant roots.

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Mother's Side: Russian Jewish Heritage

Bob Saget's mother, Rosalyn "Dolly" Cromer (1925–2014), was the daughter of Louis Cromer (1892–1972) and Isabel Brown (1897–1991), both of whom were Russian Jewish parents. This means that on his maternal side, Bob's heritage was also fully Russian Jewish — making him of entirely Ashkenazi Jewish descent with roots in the Russian Empire (which at various times encompassed present-day Russia, Ukraine, Belarus, and other states).

Rosalyn worked as a hospital administrator and was a significant presence in Bob's life. She outlived both her husband and her son's first wife before passing away in 2014. Bob's maternal heritage — Russian Jewish on both his grandmother's and grandfather's sides — gives him a family story deeply embedded in the Jewish-American immigrant experience.

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Grandparents: A Complete Picture

Paternal Grandfather — Isadore Saget (Latvian Jewish): Bob's paternal grandfather was Isadore Saget, a Jewish immigrant from Latvia. He came to the United States seeking safety and opportunity and raised a family whose grandchildren would become nationally known entertainers.

Paternal Grandmother — Jennie (Russian Jewish): Bob's paternal grandmother Jennie was a Russian Jewish immigrant. Together with Isadore, she built a Jewish-American family in the immigrant tradition.

Maternal Grandfather — Louis Cromer (Russian Jewish): Bob's maternal grandfather, Louis Cromer (born 1892, died 1972), was of Russian Jewish heritage. He immigrated to the United States and raised a family that included Rosalyn "Dolly" Saget.

Maternal Grandmother — Isabel Brown (Russian Jewish): Bob's maternal grandmother, Isabel Brown (born 1897, died 1991), was also of Russian Jewish descent. Together, Louis and Isabel raised the Cromer family in the Jewish-American tradition.

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Spouse's Ethnicity & Children's Heritage

Bob Saget was married twice. His first marriage was to Sherri Kramer (1982–1997), and together they had three daughters: Aubrey Saget (born 1987), Lara Saget (born 1989), and Jennifer Saget (born 1992). His second and final marriage was to Kelly Rizzo, a food and travel blogger, whom he married in 2018. They were married at the time of his death in January 2022. Kelly Rizzo is of Italian-American descent, with a background she has shared publicly as an Italian American from Chicago.

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Bob Saget in His Own Words on Race & Identity

"I'm a Jewish guy from Philadelphia. That's who I am. My grandfather came here from Latvia and my grandmother came from Russia. I feel incredibly proud of that." — Bob Saget (paraphrased from various interviews)

Bob Saget spoke often and warmly about his Jewish heritage, his Philadelphia upbringing, and the immigrant story of his grandparents. He was a comedian who used his heritage as both subject and lens, and his Jewishness was never far from the surface of his public persona. He was known for his charitable work, including support of the Scleroderma Research Foundation in memory of his sister, and he lived out the Jewish values of tzedakah (charity) and tikkun olam (repairing the world) in concrete ways.

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Is Bob Saget Alive?

No, Bob Saget is deceased. He died on January 9, 2022, in Orlando, Florida, at the age of 65. The cause of death was determined to be accidental blunt head trauma — he had struck the back of his head, likely in a fall, and died in his sleep from the resulting brain injuries (subdural and subarachnoid hemorrhage). He was found unresponsive in his hotel room at the Ritz-Carlton in Orlando, where he was on tour with his stand-up comedy show.

Bob Saget left behind an extraordinary legacy as the beloved Danny Tanner on Full House (1987–1995) and its sequel Fuller House (2016–2020), as the original host of America's Funniest Home Videos (1989–1997), and as the voice of the narrator Ted Mosby on How I Met Your Mother (2005–2014). He was 65 years old at the time of his death.

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Visual Family Tree

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Sources

Genealogy & Ethnicity Research

• Bob Saget — Ethnicity of Celebs (EthniCelebs.com)
• Bob Saget — Wikipedia
• Bob Saget Ethnicity And Race — CelebHook
• Bob Saget Was an Amazing Jewish Dad — Kveller

Death and Legacy

• Bob Saget's Cause of Death Revealed as Head Trauma — Variety (2022)
• Bob Saget's Family Reveals His Cause of Death — Today (2022)

Family Background

• Bob Saget — Pennsylvania Center for the Book