Melissa Landay, celebrated commercial banker and metastatic breast cancer crusader, has died at 58
Between her surprise first diagnosis in September 2015 to last month, she shared her ups and downs, unexpected joy and unavoidable pain, with the public as well as family and friends.
Melissa Landay was a connector. She said it. Everyone said it. Whether it was people, companies, or ideas, anything really, she connected things.
As a longtime senior banking executive, she connected lenders and borrowers, investors and entrepreneurs. As a woman in a male-dominated industry, she connected female colleagues across the country and formed a network she called her “board of directors.”
She ranked first in her 1989 class at George Washington University, promoted mentoring at all levels in everything, and was named a Woman of Distinction by the Philadelphia Business Journal in 2017. She organized conferences for years to mark International Women’s Month in March and Black Business Month in August, and volunteered on dozens of community projects for Jewish Community Centers, the Lend a Hand Foundation, the YMCA, and other groups.
She married her best friend, Ted Landay, had sons Justin and Jonathan, and lived in Cherry Hill and San Francisco. She told CBS News Philadelphia in a 2019 interview: “I like to get things done.”
Her husband said: “She was a force of nature.”
In 2015, Melissa Landay became a breast cancer survivor. In 2022, she was diagnosed with incurable metastatic breast cancer. On Monday, March 30, she died at her home in Cherry Hill. She was 58.
Often, during those 11 years between her surprise first diagnosis in September 2015 to last month, Mrs. Landay shared her ups and downs, unexpected joy and unavoidable pain, with the public as well as family and friends. She posted about her condition on LinkedIn and energized every breast cancer support group she joined.
She spoke to all kinds of people about breast cancer issues and gave interviews to anyone who asked. She told the Jewish Federation of Southern New Jersey in 2019: “Anyone who calls, I try to help them. People want to tell the bad stories, but I want to give hope.”
She cochaired Philadelphia’s More Than Pink Walk for the Susan B. Koman breast cancer awareness organization in 2019 and said on LinkedIn in 2024: “I hope that by sharing my story, I can help others feel less alone, and remind everyone of the importance of regular check-ups and early detection.”
She liked to hashtag her online photos with “#livingmybestlife” and said on LinkedIn: “While I know there is no cure, I know that staying positive is something that can only help.”
In an online tribute, her family and friends said: “She transformed her personal journey into a mission to support others facing similar challenges.”
Her husband said: “She never said ‘why me?’”
Born in Philadelphia, Mrs. Landay grew up with two brothers, graduated from George Washington High School, and earned a bachelor’s degree in finance, first in her class, at George Washington University in Washington D.C.
From 1989 to 2011, she was a vice president at CoreStates and Wachovia Banks, and a senior vice president at National City Bank and JPMorgan Chase & Co. She joined Wells Fargo Bank as a regional vice president for Philadelphia and Delaware in 2011, and moved to San Francisco to be a market executive in 2019.
She met Ted Landay while they were in high school, and they married in 1991. She connected more deeply with her Jewish faith after her first diagnosis in 2015 and became a board member at Temple Beth Sholom in Cherry Hill and active with the American Jewish Committee and other groups.
Mrs. Landay was a natural leader, friends and colleagues said, and they called her “noble and inspirational,” “a joy to be around,” and a “brave soul” in online tributes. On LinkedIn, a friend said: “Melissa Landay is one of those rare human beings who brings light and love to every room she enters. Smart, kind, thoughtful, funny, and always positive even through her darkest hours.”
Her husband said: “Talk about marrying up.”
Melissa Beth Garber was born Nov. 27, 1967. She loved music and singing, and played the violin, piano, clarinet, and drums.
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She was a founding member and the first president of GW’s Kappa chapter of the Phi Sigma Sigma sorority, and onetime board president of the local Panhellenic Council.
She and her husband liked to shop, take long walks, and travel to Israel, Europe, and Maui. They doted on their sons and watched TV and movies together. “Just spend time with each other,” he said.
She read romance novels and quoted author Malcolm Gladwell. She did work for the GW alumni committee and got her husband into Pilates.
“We had a great time,” her husband said. “She was the best of us.”
In addition to her husband and sons, Mrs. Landay is survived by her mother, Anita Garber, brothers Mitchell and Scott Garber, and other relatives.
Services were held earlier.
Donations in her name may be made to Temple Beth Sholom, 1901 Kresson Rd., Cherry Hill, N.J. 08003; the UCSF Metastatic Breast Cancer Research Fund, UCSF Foundation, Box 45339, San Francisco, Calif. 94145; and BreastCancer.org, 40 E. Montgomery Ave., 4th Floor, Ardmore, Pa. 19003.