Melanie Susan Potier (November 14, 1947 - June 23, 1981), better known as Suki Potier, was an English model.
She was born to Gilbert and Mary (née Moore) Potier in Surrey. She had an older sister Rosemary Sarah (Sally) Potier born February 12, 1946. As a teenager, she modeled for all the great English designers, becoming a favorite of Ossie Clark. At the age of 18, Suki was dating Guinness heir Tara Browne, who was separated from his then-wife, Nicky.
On December 18, 1966, Suki was a passenger in Tara's Lotus Elan when he drove through South Kensington at high speed, colliding with a parked lorry and was killed instantly. Suki was not injured. Part of The Beatles song, "A Day in the Life" is based on this incident.
It was this tragedy that led her to Rolling Stones musician Brian Jones. Suki said, "He gave me a shoulder to cry on and he picked up the pieces and made me feel a woman again". The two dated for approximately two years.
Suki moved to a fifteenth century farmhouse with 27-year-old Brian in the last few months before his death, which was once the home of AA Milne, creator of the Winnie the Pooh stories. It was there in the swimming pool that Brian, who had by then left the Rolling Stones, drowned mysteriously.
Suki was shattered by Brian's death. Suki remained friends with the Rolling Stones, going to parties with Mick Jagger, attending the Isle of Wight Festival with Keith Richards, Charlie Watts, and other members of the Stones camp.
In the Seventies, Suki married a Hong Kong businessman named Robert Ho, the eldest son of casino mogul Stanley Ho and wife Clementina Leitao Ho, with whom she had two daughters, Faye and Sarah. On June 23, 1981, while in Portugal, the couple were both killed in an automobile accident in their Bentley on the road to Cascais[1], while returning home to their two children, having had a quiet dinner with Robert's mother, who lived nearby.
Today, eldest daughter Faye is active in Macau nonprofit organizations. An avid supporter of children, the elderly, and animal welfare, she is Chairwoman of the Macau Children's Association, Managing Director of Macau Charity Association, Director & President of SPCA - ANIMA Macau.
Meanwhile, youngest daughter Sarah Ho is a successful jewellery designer, who was trained as a goldsmith at the London Metropolitan University and then graduated as a gemologist from the HRD Institute of Gemology in Antwerp, Belgium. She established her own company, SHO Fine Jewellery, in 2006.