Lisa Halterman, 57, gallery owner, arts patron

Lisa Maxine Reisman Halterman, 57, of Rittenhouse Square, owner of an eclectic gallery who was a patron of the arts, died at home Wednesday, June 6, of breast cancer.

In 2005, after careers as a real estate agent and college administrator, Ms. Halterman pursued her love of art and opened Lisa M. Reisman et Cie off Rittenhouse Square.

The gallery displayed original paintings, sculpture, jewelry, furniture, Baccarat crystal, handmade items for babies, old posters, and art nouveau and art deco soap and perfume labels she had collected over 20 years.

She loved art nouveau design, and also developed an expertise in the work of contemporary artists such as Henry Moore and Alexander Calder, said Michael Hartman, the gallery's assistant director.

"Lisa would do enormous research," he said, to provide patrons with background about the cruise lines, bicycle-makers, and other firms advertised in the vintage posters she displayed.

The detailed descriptions she provided for exhibits made the gallery seem like a museum where everything was for sale, Hartman said.

Though other galleries offered framing to supplement art sales, Ms. Halterman preferred to feature unusual gift items, including tins of cocoa that made delicious hot chocolate.

Ms. Halterman opened the gallery for events sponsored by the Philadelphia Film Festival, the French-American Chamber of Commerce, the Center City District, and other organizations.

Since 2010, she had worked from her home on Delancey Place and had an elaborate website. She was still communicating with clients three weeks ago, Hartman said.

Ms. Halterman's love of art was influenced by her world travels, her mother, Fredericka Reisman, said. "I took her abroad for the first time when she was 5."

In the 1960s, she and her mother, who was divorced, moved from Syracuse, N.Y., to Athens, Ga., where her mother, who has a doctorate in math education, joined the faculty of the University of Georgia.

At 16, Ms. Halterman graduated from Clark Central High School in Athens. For two years, she attended the University of Georgia, then studied in London and attended the University of Pennsylvania.

In the 1970s, she began selling properties in Center City for Robert Bruce Realty. She subsequently worked for Merrill Lynch and Prudential.

Ms. Halterman, who was an advocate for historic preservation, restored a 19th-century town house on Delancey Place with her husband, Roger Halterman, in the early 1980s. The couple, who had two sons together, later divorced.

From 1996 until she opened her gallery, Ms. Halterman was graduate coordinator in the bioengineering and economics departments at the University of Pennsylvania.

She was involved in fund-raising events for the Please Touch Museum, the Rittenhouse Square Flower Market, and Curtis Institute, and for several years hosted dinners in her home to benefit the Rosenbach Museum.

In addition to her mother, Ms. Halterman is survived by sons Samuel and Benjamin; her father, George Reisman; and her former husband.

A graveside service was observed Saturday, June 9, at Laurel Hill Cemetery.

Donations may be made to the Lisa Maxine Reisman Halterman Fund, Goodwin College, Drexel University, 3141 Chestnut St., Philadelphia 19104.