Susan Kardevan Chapman, an accountant with a passion for helping women in STEAM, has died at 69
She dedicated her life to her family, accounting, and ensuring girls interested in STEAM could access education. “She had the most beautiful contagious laugh, and she leaves a hole in my heart."
Susan Kardevan Chapman, 69, formerly of Philadelphia, a longtime accountant with a passion for helping women in STEAM professions, died Wednesday, April 5, of a stroke at Holmes Regional Medical Center in Merritt Island, Fla.
Born and raised in Northeast Philadelphia, Ms. Kardevan Chapman was the only child of Frank Kardevan, a Philadelphia Yellow Jackets football player, and Mary Krewson, a public school math teacher, from whom she inherited her love for science, technology, engineering, arts, and mathematics (STEAM).
Her formative years were spent at Friends Select School, which her mother also attended, and where she later established the Mary Krewson Kardevan ‘32 and Susan Kardevan Chapman ‘71 Scholarship, a tuition assistance fund for girls interested in STEAM.
It was also where Ms. Kardevan Chapman met Cindy Moran, her best friend.
The pair grew up together, riding around in Ms. Kardevan Chapman’s yellow Corvette and participating on the cheerleading squad. “She was so beautiful, smart, caring, and funny, everyone loved her, and that never changed,” said Moran, who served as Ms. Kardevan Chapman’s legal trustee in the final years of her life.
Moran still remembers the strength Ms. Kardevan Chapman showed when her father died five days before high school graduation, as well as her ability to pick herself up to move to Florida for college.
Ms. Kardevan Chapman attended the University of Miami in Coral Gables, Fla., where she was a member of the Tri Delta sorority. Her plan was to major in engineering, but she was the only woman in her class, and Moran says her male peers blocked her from opportunities and made constant comments. She switched her studies to accounting, and was named the president of the University of Miami honor society Mortar Board in 1975.
From there, she went on to work as a certified public accountant for PriceWaterhouseCoopers . She left in the early 1980s to move to California and work for LNR, a commercial investment, securities, and real estate company, where she served as chief financial officer until her retirement in 2015, due to a fistula in her brain.
Moran described Ms. Kardevan Chapman as having a deep love for her family.
For more than 40 years, Tim Bennett was her longstanding partner. He nicknamed her “Scoogie” for growing up near the Schuylkill River. Ms. Kardevan Chapman loved Bennett’s two children, Heather and Holmes Thompson Bennett, as her own.
The couple retired in Merritt Island, Fla., in 2015. There, Ms. Kardevan Chapman took up bike riding, Pilates, gardening, watching the University of Miami Hurricanes football games, and sharing pictures of Heather’s twin sons with Moran.
After 58 years of friendship, Moran and Ms. Kardevan Chapman still made it a point to call each other at least once a month. “I miss her and love her. She had the most beautiful, contagious laugh, and she leaves a hole in my heart,” said Moran.
Along with her partner, Bennett, and his children, Ms. Kardevan Chapman is survived by cousins.
The funeral was held April 18 at Robert Mannel Funeral Home, in the Frankford area. She is buried at Oakland Cemetery, next to her parents.
Donations in her name may be made to the Mary Krewson Kardevan ‘32 and Susan Kardevan Chapman ‘71 Scholarship Fund at Friends Select.