Anne R. Fabbri, retired museum director, adjunct professor, and prolific art critic, has died at 98

Anne R. Fabbri, 98, of Wayne, retired museum director in Chester, Oceanville, and Philadelphia, former adjunct professor of art at Villanova and Drexel Universities, and prolific freelance art critic for the Daily News and other publications, died Sunday, Aug. 25, of cancer at her home.

An expert on modern art, Renaissance art, and art history, and an energetic champion of artists and their creations, Ms. Fabbri spent seven decades addressing what her family said in a tribute is “the importance of art and the interplay between art, culture, and modern life.”

She was an innovative director and curator at the Deshong Art Museum in Chester from 1980 to 1982, founding director and curator at the Noyes Museum in Oceanville, Atlantic County, from 1983 to 1991, and director and curator at the Paley Design Center in Philadelphia from 1991 to 2000. All three museums, reorganized now under new management, thrived under her guidance, and she won the 1991 John Cotton Dana Award from the New Jersey Association of Museums for her “significant contributions to the growth and development of its museums.”

“Her positive energy was contagious,” said artist and longtime friend Susan Howard. “Whether at a party or art opening, Anne was busy forging connections between artists, collectors, dealers, and administrators.”

At Paley in the 1990s, Ms. Fabbri created a Meet the Neighbors series of exhibits that featured local artists in Philadelphia. In a 1993 review of her show “Artists of Germantown and Mount Airy,” Inquirer art critic Edward J. Sozanski said it was “as strong as any you might find in Philadelphia’s first-rank galleries.”

She represented Noyes at a 1989 regional conference about making connections in the art world, and routinely celebrated Black and Latino artists, and postmodern photographers. She was also chair of the advisory committee for the city’s Art in City Hall program from 1999 to 2010 and helped many local artists exhibit in public places.

Sculptor Roy Wilson said: “Whether as a director including us in her exhibitions, as an art critic reviewing our shows, or simply as an advocate providing advice and support, Anne reaffirmed for all of us that our work was important.”

In the early 1970s, Ms. Fabbri taught modern art and the history of art at Villanova, and, as acting chair of the fine arts department in 1972 and ’73, initiated an artist-in-residence program and organized lectures and exhibits on campus. At Drexel in the mid-1970s, she taught Renaissance art, Baroque art, and art of the 20th century. Later, she lectured at Rosemont College, Moore College of Art & Design, and Main Line Night School in Radnor.

In the 1960s, she was a guide at the Philadelphia Museum of Art. “She was always intellectually curious,” said her son Jay Butera.

She appeared often in Inquirer and Daily News stories about art, and wrote hundreds of freelance analytical previews, reviews, and features on art for the Daily News, Bulletin, Broad Street Review, Philadelphia Style magazine, and other publications. In 2000, she wrote in the Daily News that painter Al Gury “expresses his appreciation of life and nature in such a way that we can feel what he means when we look at his paintings.”

She served on the board of directors for the Philadelphia Volunteer Lawyers for the Arts and the Massachusetts-based Muse Art Foundation. She was on the advisory committee of the Main Line Art Center and active with other art associations, councils, panels, and commissions.

“Anne had boundless curiosity and an unusual ability to connect with people,” said fellow writer Peggy Payne. “To be friends with her was a profound pleasure.”

Anne Rita Fabbri was born Oct. 7, 1925, in Norristown. She was a top student at Norristown High School and later inducted into its alumni hall of fame.

She studied philosophy, political science, and economics before switching to art history, and graduated with a bachelor’s degree from Harvard University’s Radcliffe College in 1947. In 1971, she earned a master’s degree in the history of art at Bryn Mawr College.

She also earned fellowships in journalism and art history from the National Endowment for the Humanities at the University of California, Berkeley, and Princeton University, and studied American decorative arts at the Winterthur Institute in Delaware.

She married Joseph Butera, and they had daughter Ginny and sons Ray and Jay, and lived in Plymouth Meeting. After a divorce, she moved to Philadelphia and then Wayne. Her former husband died earlier.

Ms. Fabbri spoke Italian and traveled to Venice and Milan, and more than two dozen other countries to study art and architecture. Her lifelong love of nature deepened as she aged, and she made memorable journeys to the Grand Canyon, Valley Forge National Historical Park, and other places.

She enjoyed opera and jazz, and had season tickets to the Philadelphia Orchestra. “I was always in awe of Anne’s passion, not only for art but for life,” Susan Howard said. “Her signature expression was ‘carpe diem,’ and she sure did seize life every day with a smile.”

In addition to her children, Ms. Fabbri is survived by five grandchildren, a brother, and other relatives. A sister died earlier.

A celebration of her life is to be held at 2 p.m. Sunday, Oct. 6, at the Goodhart Hall Music Annex at Bryn Mawr College, 150 N. Merion Ave., Bryn Mawr, Pa. 19010.

Donations in her name may be made to the Bryn Mawr Hospital Foundation’s Nursing Leadership and Excellence Fund, 240 N. Radnor Chester Rd., Suite 340, Radnor, Pa. 19087.