Harriet “Sissie” (Liever) Barbanell
May 5, 1933 - November 18, 2017 Harriet Liever Barbanell 1933- November 18, 2017 Clifford Alan Barbanell 1919-September 26, 2017 Mom lost her beloved Cliff 53 days before she finally succumbed to her cancer and a broken heart at 5:15 AM on November 18, 2017, the exact same time that Dad passed away. They had an amazing 58 years and 312 days worth of adventures.
She was born in Pennsylvania, and flourished at the family “farm”, Penn Werner Farms, where her mother rode her hunter jumpers, the Mann family landed on their airstrip for weekends in the country, and Mom helped Mamie bake the famous meringue. Mom attended Westtown Friends with her older sister where she was always the first to test whether the lake had yet frozen over by sledding down the hill onto the lake! She was captain of the field hockey team, the diving team and the tennis team, with some figure skating in between.
She moved to California with her parents in the early 1950’s after her first year at Smith. She owned and operated a record store at Town and Country Village in Palo Alto, owned and operated an art gallery in Mexico City, and was the CFO for Dad’s consulting business, Barbanell Associates.
Mom and Dad met on a blind date, and the rest is history. In between her tennis and mah jong games, Mom was a past President of the Sisterhood at Temple Emanu-El, member of the SF Ballet Auxilliary, Mayor of Sacramento Street, and chaired many fundraisers for her favorite organizations: Raphael House, ACT, the San Francisco Girls Chorus, SF MOMA and championed up and coming artists with patron support and shows.
Loved by all, but especially her family: daughter Cynthia Silverstein, son Gregg Barbanell, son-in-law Lloyd Silverstein, and grandchildren Sam, Max, Eleanor and Willow (d.). Our gratitude to Dr. Charalambos Andreadis, oncologist extraordinaire and now friend and family, and the infusion department on the 4th floor.
Memorial Service for our parents to be held on Thursday, December 14th at 3 PM at Temple Emanu-El in San Francisco, Two Lake Street. In lieu of flowers, donations to UCSF Foundation, PO Box 45339, San Francisco, CA 94145-0339 and designate on the memo line that the gift is in memory of Harriet Barbanell to support the Dr. Andreadis Cancer Research Fund or the San Francisco Girls Chorus, 44 Page Street, #200, SF, CA 94102 in memory of Harriet and Clifford Barbanell would be appreciated.