Lives Well Lived
Associate in Dance LaDeva M. Davis died Thursday, Sept. 8, at age 78. With her passing, Swarthmore has lost a revered, Grammy-nominated educator, choreographer, and performer.
Davis was born and raised in South Philadelphia, the daughter of LaDeva and billiards champion Edward “Chick” Davis. After graduating from Germantown High School, she attended the Philadelphia Musical Academy (now the University of the Arts), where she earned a bachelor’s degree in music education.
Davis’ many interests manifested themselves in everything jazz music to the movies and national ad campaigns she worked on, including The Cotton Club, Trading Places, and a Snapple commercial with Spike Lee.
She became the first Black woman to host a nationally syndicated cooking show on public television, which led to her inclusion in an exhibit at the Smithsonian Institution’s National Museum of American History. Davis devoted 57 years to teaching in the Philadelphia School District. For 31 years, she contributed new works Swarthmore Dance program’s annual fall and spring dance concerts.
This year’s fall concert on Dec. 2 and 3, will be dedicated to her memory. Davis and her business partner Ira Tucker, Jr. produced Still… Keepin’ It Real: The Last Man Standing for the Philadelphia-based Dixie Hummingbirds. Their efforts garnered a 2007 Grammy nomination for Best Traditional Gospel Album.
LaDeva Davis
In 2015, Davis received the National Council of Negro Women’s Mary McLeod Bethune Award for leadership, excellence, and achievement in education. The same year, CAPA surprised her with a tribute program featuring current and former students in honor of her 50th year of teaching. She also received the Lindback Award for Distinguished Teaching, awarded annually to Philadelphia’s best educators. In 2019, Davis was honored at the Mann Center’s “Voices of Hope” Black History Month Celebration as an iconic educator whose “work and determination have greatly impacted the lives of the city’s students.” “LaDeva was a diva — a consummate professional, a star,” said longtime colleague and friend C. Kemal Nance ’92.
READ MORE: bit.ly/LaDevaDavis
Esther Leeds Cooperman ’48
Esther Leeds Cooperman ’48, who served on the Board of Managers from 1979 to 1982, died on Tuesday, June 21, 2022, at Chester County Hospital at the age of 95. Born in 1927 in Philadelphia to Hadassah Joanna (née Moore) and Morris E. Leeds, Esther grew up and lived most of her life in Philadelphia’s West Mt. Airy neighborhood. In 1957, she married Harris L. Cooperman. In 1980, they moved to Baltimore, and then to Easton, Md. She and Harris last resided at Kendal-Crosslands, a Quaker Lifecare community in Kennett Square, Pa. Harris died in 2016.
Esther was a lifelong Quaker and member of Philadelphia Yearly Meeting. A graduate of Germantown Friends School, she earned a B.A. in political science from Swarthmore College, and an M.A. in the same field from the University of Pennsylvania in 1951. As a Swarthmore Manager, she made the recommendation, which the Board ultimately acted upon in 1981, to divest itself of more than $2 million in stock of corporations that dealt with South Africa. Esther is survived by her three children, a granddaughter, and five step-grandchildren. (See pg. 77)
Janis Page Hodges
Janis Page Hodges, who went by Page, died on July 3. She was 67. Page, a longtime member of the Swarthmore community, worked at The Inn at Swarthmore prior to joining the Dining Services team in 2015.
“Page was a treasure and will be missed by so many students, faculty, and staff,” says Linda McDougall, director of Dining Services. “Page made people feel appreciated,” says Carol Nackenoff, Richter Professor Emerita of Political Science. “She took enormous pride in her work, and the College was a very special place for her.”
A lifelong resident of Wallingford, Pa., Page was a 1972 graduate of Nether Providence High School. Prior to joining the College, she had a varied career and was passionate about expanding her horizons. She was also a talented artist who took great joy in sharing her work with others.