Vera Louise Glassman, public school teacher, Bird-in-Hand volunteer

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Vera Louise Glassman, a longtime resident of Mt. Airy in Philadelphia, died due to complications from breast cancer on November 8 at home with her family in Greenville, Pennsylvania. She was 92.

Born in Philadelphia in 1928, Glassman was the daughter of Betty and Richard Freides, DDS. Two sisters preceded her in death, Vivian, 3, and Marsha, 38.

A graduate of West Philadelphia High School and Temple University, where she received a B.S and a M.Ed., Glassman began her teaching career at the Woods School in Langhorne, Pennsylvania. She taught Biology in the Philadelphia Public Schools for more than 35 years, first at South Philadelphia High School, then at Northeast High School and finally at Frankford High School.

In retirement, Glassman volunteered at the Bird-in-Hand Consignment Shop in Chestnut Hill. The shop raised money for numerous Philadelphia charities. She also gave her time to work in a shelter for homeless single mothers and tutored students at the Houston School in her Mt. Airy neighborhood of Philadelphia. She was an avid patron of the arts, including the Philadelphia Chamber Music Society,1807 & Friends and the Philadelphia Museum of Art.

Glassman was raised in West Philadelphia, spending summers in Ventnor, NJ. After the premature death of her husband, Frank Cohen, in 1955, she lived for many years with her parents in Wynnewood.

She married Bernard Glassman and the couple moved to East Mt. Airy in 1964. She moved to Greenville in 2014 to be in the company of her son Benjamin and his family.

Glassman was preceded in death by husbands Frank Cohen (1955) and Bernard Glassman (1998). She leaves behind her sons, Benjamin (Nita, nee Thomas) of Greenville, PA, Daniel (Eileen Stevenson) of Point Pleasant, PA, Robert (Jennie Lieberman) of Ann Arbor, MI, William (Mindy, nee Yavorsky) of Philadelphia, PA, and Jonathon (James Kern) of Chicago, IL. She also leaves behind six grandchildren and one great-grandchild.

No memorial service is currently planned. Mourners are encouraged to donate to any cause they think befitting of Vera’s memory.