D.K. Lubonski; had 3 careers
Debbie K. Lubonski, 60, of Easton, Md., who rose to manager of information systems while at the Philadelphia Convention and Visitors Bureau from 1991 to 1995, died of complications from cancer on Thursday, Oct. 22, at Thomas Jefferson University Hospital.
Debbie K. Lubonski, 60, of Easton, Md., who rose to manager of information systems while at the Philadelphia Convention and Visitors Bureau from 1991 to 1995, died of complications from cancer on Thursday, Oct. 22, at Thomas Jefferson University Hospital.
"The most important characteristic" that Ms. Lubonski showed over the years, Harvey Brodovsky said, "is courage."
Dr. Brodovsky, whose speciality was oncology, said he was her physician from the time she graduated from high school until he retired.
"Over the years," he said, "she never complained about her illness, never said, 'Why me?'
"She just showed great resolve and courage over the 42 years that I knew her."
Her other primary characteristic, he said, was family loyalty. Unless she was out of town, Ms. Lubonski "had lunch with her mother and sister every Saturday."
Born in Camden, Ms. Lubonski grew up in Audubon, graduated from Audubon High School in 1973, and studied marketing and finance at what is now Camden County College, niece Jennifer Steele said.
Before residing in Maryland for the last two years, her niece said, Ms. Lubonski lived in Audubon into the early 1990s, when she moved to Cherry Hill.
Ms. Lubonski was executive coordinator for defense litigation from 1975 to 1991 in the Philadelphia office of the law firm Cozen O'Connor, Steele said.
And then, "as the Pennsylvania Convention Center was being built," her niece said, Ms. Lubonski "was marketing it to meeting planners around the country." It opened in 1993.
Her third significant job, her niece said, was as vice president of operations for BF Healthcare Inc. in Fort Washington from 2005 to 2012.
If a hospital "had a shortage of doctors or nursing staff and they needed some people to work a night shift," Steele said, Ms. Lubonski recruited and scheduled them.
What was striking about Ms. Lubonski, her niece said, "was, she was ill for a number of years, but she never showed she was afraid" of her illness.
And professionally, her niece said, "she had no fear, because she was able to move from a major law firm into marketing a convention center into recruiting people" with medical degrees. "It's just amazing to me that she could navigate her career in so many diverse directions."
Besides Steele, Ms. Lubonski is survived by brother Edward and companion George S. Rapp.
A visitation was set from 9 to 11 a.m. Wednesday, Oct. 28, at St. Aloysius Church, 37 W. Haddon Ave., Oaklyn, before an 11 a.m. Funeral Mass there.
Donations may be sent to the Animal Welfare Association Inc. at www.awanj.org.
Condolences may be offered to the family at www.creranfh.com.
610-313-8134 @WNaedele
