Willy Wiedmann was born Wilhelm Richard Heinrich Wiedmann on March 14, 1929, in Ettlingen (a district of Karlsruhe) Germany. He was married to Hilda Wiedmann and had three children: Richard, Cornelia and Martin. He named his two schnauzers Jakob and Jakobine to coincide with the name of his gallery, "Galerie am Jakobsbrunnen" (Gallery at Jacob's Well)