Verna Shmavonian, retired director of research and tech for City Council, award-winning film producer, and writer, has died at 92

Verna Shmavonian, 92, formerly of East Mount Airy, retired director of research and technical staff for Philadelphia City Council, former special projects coordinator for the Buckingham Township Board of Supervisors, award-winning documentary film producer, and writer, died Thursday, April 18, of complications from a stroke at the Artman Lutheran Home in Ambler.

Hired in 1980 by Joseph Coleman, then president of City Council, Mrs. Shmavonian, until her retirement in 1991, oversaw a newly formed research unit that funneled information and data to Council members, and a tech staff that specialized in the expanding use of data processors and personal computers at City Hall. Coleman told The Inquirer that he hired Mrs. Shmavonian for her experience in completing community development projects in Philadelphia and North Carolina, and she streamlined new procedures so Council members could better analyze budgets, negotiate contracts, collect constituency data, and receive timely research and technical assistance on other initiatives.

She was naturally adept at organizing people and programs from start-up through job completion, and her research helped the Buckingham board of supervisors preserve agricultural areas and change state laws regarding land use in the late 1970s. Earlier, she coordinated the start-up phase of a sweeping cancer research project in Princeton for the National Cancer Institute and American Cancer Society.

In the early 1970s, she worked with the Free Library of Philadelphia and local schools to develop a pioneering learning center called the Action Library. In 1968, she produced No Handouts for Mrs. Hedgepeth, a short film about poverty and segregation in North Carolina that was named best social documentary of the year at the Atlanta Film Festival.

“She was intellectually interested in many things,” said her daughter, Nadya. “She was open to writing, synthesizing, and assimilating things, often for a social purpose. She did a good job at everything she did.”

Verna Mae Andersen was born April 24, 1931, in Seabold on Bainbridge Island, Washington. She attended Reed College in Portland, Ore., for two years and graduated from the University of Washington with a bachelor’s degree in English.

She was an avid reader and freelance writer, and visited New York in 1952 as a guest editor for Mademoiselle magazine. She returned to Washington in 1953 and managed public relations and promotional activities for several departments at the university.

She met Barry Shmavonian when they were students at Washington, and they married in 1953, and had daughter Nadya and son Karl. They lived in North Carolina from 1958 to 1969 before moving to Philadelphia. Her husband died in 2010.

Socially conscious throughout her life, Mrs. Shmavonian worked for a community development program and as a writer for an educational TV station in North Carolina, and on research projects for Temple University and city schools after moving to Philadelphia. She protested against the Vietnam War, settled in East Mount Airy because of its well-established integration, and served as a Democratic committeewoman in the 1970s.

She enjoyed spending time with her children and five grandchildren after she retired and always said that family came first. “She showered us with her beautiful and boundless laughter and love,” her family said in a tribute, “always with a broad smile and healthy chortle.”

A longtime family friend said in a tribute: “She showed me it was not only possible for a woman to have both a professional life and a family, but desirable.”

Mrs. Shmavonian liked to cook, garden, and entertain, and her home in North Carolina was known by neighbors long after she moved as the “Shmavonian House” for its memorable parties and get-togethers. “She was sweet, sweet, sweet,” her daughter said. “Sweetness was her essence. She always had a smile and took pleasure in life. She was just happy.”

In addition to her children and grandchildren, Mrs. Shmavonian is survived by other relatives. A brother and a sister died earlier.

A private celebration of her life is to be held later.

Donations in her name may be made to the Mount Airy Community Development Corp., 6703 Germantown Ave., Suite 200, Philadelphia, Pa. 19119; and Germantown Friends School, Advancement Office, 31 W. Coulter St., Philadelphia, Pa. 19144.