Karin Takiff, banker, city administrator, arts advocate, and prizewinning dog owner, has died at 73
She loved British theater, was a dancer as a young woman, and confronted metastatic breast cancer since the 1980s. "She was so courageous," her brother said.
Karin Takiff, 73, of Philadelphia, retired senior vice president of health-care banking at PNC Financial Services, former administrative director of the Philadelphia District Attorney’s domestic abuse unit, onetime fund-raising whiz for the Pennsylvania Ballet, and prizewinning dog owner, died Thursday, June 9, of metastatic breast cancer at the Hospital of the University of Pennsylvania.
Eclectic in her interests and proficient in her work, Ms. Takiff was comfortable at both closing big financial deals for PNC and brushing out the white hair of her beloved Westies. Her husband, John Franck, said she could document financial transactions better than most legal departments, but she may have been more proud of the ribbons her West Highland white terriers won over the years from the Westminster Kennel Club.
“She was a wonderful woman, very active,” her husband said. “She was a glowing light to be around.”
Ms. Takiff worked for banks in New York and Philadelphia before joining PNC. She was administrative director of the Philadelphia District Attorney’s progressive domestic abuse unit in the 1970s and ’80s and testified forcefully before the U.S. Commission of Civil Rights in 1982 regarding the funding and operation of Philadelphia’s domestic violence response programs.
“I think that there should be much more substantial groundwork laid among all of the agencies that are impacted by the problem of abuse, and a clear agreement and commitment to work toward mutually agreed-upon goals,” she told the commissioners, “because there have been tensions and turf disputes throughout the city, within the project.”
By all accounts, Ms. Takiff treated her adult Westies like the children she never had. Sunnie was one of her favorites, and she gave “the kids” the run of the house, kept them in pairs so one wouldn’t be lonely, and traveled to all their shows and exhibitions.
She was a dancer into her 30s and performed as a youngster with a troupe on a local morning TV show. She liked the theater and was a trustee at Harcum College, the Living Beyond Breast Cancer nonprofit, and the People’s Light performing arts theater in Malvern.
“Karin had such a joyful, reassuring spirit,” Zak Berkman, producing artistic director at People’s Light, said in a tribute. “Her affection for People’s Light was uplifting and contagious in all the good ways.”
Diane Dalto Woosnam, a longtime friend and arts administrator, said in a tribute that Ms. Takiff was “a quiet presence with enormous influence in the arts institutions she supported. Her years as an administrator at the Pennsylvania Ballet were some of the organization’s most rocky, and Karin led the fund-raising efforts that allowed the ballet to organize and prosper.”
Born July 14, 1948, in Philadelphia, Ms. Takiff was a star athlete in high school and won the 1966 Emma Braun Award at Friends Select School for “outstanding contributions made by a senior female in the realm of interscholastic athletics.” Her father was a judge, and her mother was a community activist, and she was interested in politics and public service.
She went often to stage plays and children’s concerts by the Philadelphia Orchestra and took dance lessons as a girl at the Narberth Fire Department hall. “She was engaged,” said her brother, Jonathan, a former staff writer at The Inquirer and Daily News. “We were raised to always be looking out for people.”
She earned a bachelor’s degree at the University of Pennsylvania and worked for a time at banks in New York. She married and divorced John Parrish and Richard Henderson before marrying Franck about 30 years ago.
“She had the greatest friends,” her husband said. “She was a stalwart in the community and an avid supporter of the causes she believed in. She was hardworking and dynamic.”
Ms. Takiff enjoyed traveling with her husband and had already planned journeys and bought show tickets for later this year. She was also looking forward to serving as a docent at historic houses in Fairmount Park.
She was first diagnosed with metastatic breast cancer in the 1980s. It recurred about 10 years ago, and she spent the last five years undergoing extensive treatments. “She lived for experiences,” her brother said. “Ever the eternal optimist, she continued to make plans and made the most of the time she had left. She was so courageous.”
In addition to her husband, brother, and former husbands, Ms. Takiff is survived by other relatives. A sister died earlier.
A celebration of her life is to be held later.
Donations in her name may be made to Living Beyond Breast Cancer, 40 Monument Rd., Suite 104, Bala Cynwyd, Pa. 19004; People’s Light, 39 Conestoga Rd., Malvern, Pa. 19355; and Philly PAWS, Donor Services, 100 N. 2nd St., Philadelphia, Pa. 19106.