Susan Kardevan Chapman

Susan Kardevan Chapman, 69, formerly of Philadelphia, a longtime accountant with a passion for helping women in STEAM professions, died Wednesday, April 5, of a stroke at Holmes Regional Medical Center in Melbourne, Fla.

Born and raised in Northeast Philadelphia, Ms. Kardevan Chapman was the only child of Frank Kardevan, a Philadelphia Yellow Jackets football player, and Mary Krewson, a public school math teacher, from whom she inherited her love for science, technology, engineering, arts, and mathematics (STEAM).

Her formative years were spent at Friends Select School, which her mother also attended, and where she later established the Mary Krewson Kardevan ‘32 and Susan Kardevan Chapman ‘71 Scholarship, a tuition assistance fund for girls interested in STEAM.

Ms. Kardevan Chapman attended the University of Miami in Coral Gables, Fla., where she was a member of the Tri Delta sorority. Her plan was to major in engineering, but she was the only woman in her class.  She switched her studies to accounting, and was named the president of the University of Miami honor society Mortar Board in 1975.

From there, she went on to work as a certified public accountant for Price Waterhouse Coopers . She left in the early 1980s to move to California and work for LNR, a commercial investment, securities, and real estate company, where she served as chief financial officer until her retirement in 2015.

 

Ms. Kardevan Chapman as having a deep love for her family.

Susan Kardevan Chapman established a fund to help girls interested in STEAM pay tuition at Friends Select school.

 

For more than 40 years, Tim Bennett was her longstanding partner. He nicknamed her “Scoogie” for growing up near the Schuylkill River. Ms. Kardevan Chapman loved Bennett’s two children, Heather and Holmes Thompson Bennett, as her own.

The couple retired in Merritt Island, Fla., in 2015. There, Ms. Kardevan Chapman took up bike riding, Pilates, gardening, watching the University of Miami Hurricanes football games, and sharing pictures of Heather’s twin sons.

The funeral was held April 18 at Robert Mannel Funeral Home, in the Frankford area. She is buried at Oakland Cemetery, next to her parents. Donations in her name may be made to the Mary Krewson Kardevan ‘32 and Susan Kardevan Chapman ‘71 Scholarship Fund at Friends Select.