Karen Malandra, 45, college art instructor

Karen Malandra, 45, of East Mount Airy, an art teacher, died of gastric cancer Thursday at Abington Memorial Hospital.

Raised in Warminster, Ms. Malandra graduated in 1981 from Archbishop Wood High School and in 1985 earned a bachelor's degree in printmaking from Kutztown University, where she received the Stimmel Award for Academic Achievement.

She earned a master's in art education from Tyler School of Art in 2001 and a doctorate in urban education from Temple University in 2007.

From 1988 to 1994, she was research vice president for Keane Tracers Inc. in West Conshohocken. In her job, she "located lost shareholders and missing heirs for Fortune 500 companies," her sister Anna Filipkowski said.

In 1997-98, Ms. Malandra was a teaching artist at Owsley County High School in Booneville, Ky.

At Tyler, she was an academic adviser from 2001 to 2003, acting director of student affairs in 2003-04, and an adjunct instructor from 2003 to 2006.

From 2004 to 2006, she was also coordinator for the Community Arts and Literacy Network in North Philadelphia.

In 2007-08, she was an adjunct instructor at Moore College of Art and from 2006 to last year an assistant art professor at Rowan University.

From 2005 to 2007, she was a board member of the Gas and Electric Arts Theater Company in Philadelphia, and from 2001 to 2006 a mentor to Philadelphia middle and high school students in the Grands as Parents program.

Besides her sister Anna, Ms. Malandra is survived by her husband, Jacques Wilmore Jr.; a daughter, Isabella Wilmore; parents Vincent and Marcelline; three brothers; three other sisters; and 14 nieces and nephews.

Friends may call after 9 a.m. today at St. Robert Bellarmine Church, 856 Euclid Ave., Warrington, where a Funeral Mass will be said at 10:30. Burial will be in St. John Neumann Cemetery, Chalfont.