Irene Dorothy Bany Magaziner

 Obituary of Irene Bany Magaziner (1921 to 2018)

Irene Bany Magaziner passed away late on March 11, 2018 at age 96. Irene was a great wife, mother and community activist. She loved reading, gardening, travel, piano playing and painting.
Born in Schenectady, NY, Irene was the first of Herman and Ida Bany’s two children.  Herman was a multi- patent-holding GE electrical engineer and Ida was a World War One Bride from Southampton, England. The family settled in Lansdowne, Pennsylvania where Irene attended public schools until high school when she transferred to Friend’s Select in Philadelphia. Her freshman and sophomore college years were spent at Swarthmore College in Swarthmore. Pennsylvania. She continued her education at Toby Coburn School of Fashion in New York City, afterwards she started working at Macy’s in Human Resources. She also worked briefly as a women’s clothing model for Macy’s newspaper ads.
She moved back to Philadelphia earning her BA at the University Of Pennsylvania, where she worked as a librarian in The Wharton School Library. There she met Richard Magaziner, recently returned from the Pacific where he had served as a Lieutenant in the U.S. Navy during the Second World War. The two were married on June 20, 1948 at the First Unitarian Church of Philadelphia.
Their first child, Stephen, was born in 1949 in Philadelphia, followed by James, born on Long Island, New York in 1952. They settled in the Fort Washington, PA (Upper Dublin Township) and had their third child, Sally in 1956.
Through the 1960’s Irene worked tirelessly with a few other community/environmental activists to form the  Open Space Committee of Upper Dublin with an objective of preserving open land/farmland  in  a township that was fast  developing into suburban housing and sprawl. The committee initially experienced resistance from township officials. However, the Open Space Committee was successful in getting their concept placed on the November 8, 1966 General Election Ballot as a debt proposal. The measure passed overwhelmingly*1 and the Township quickly responded by purchasing open land and turning it into park space. The township now enjoys 6.0 % of its total acreage as recreational and open space. *2
Irene also served in a number of offices in the local League of Women Voters in the 1970’s. In the 80’s and 90’s Irene was a volunteer as a hot-line phone answering counselor for a local housing shelter to battered women and men. Richard and Irene spent their final years at the Quadrangle Continued Care Community in Haverford, and while there, she once again volunteered time as a librarian at the facility’s library. 
From the 50’s through the early 90’s, she was continually active at their church, The Unitarian Society of Germantown.  Irene served as a Board Member including Secretary, Treasurer, and President (Two terms; 1968-69 and 1983-84).
Irene will be remembered as a broad-minded, philosophical individual with a wonderful sense of humor who was easy to talk to and a great listener.  Somehow she could process a discussion and get almost anyone to see things in a different light without causing offense or a defensive response.
Irene is survived by all of her children and their spouses or significant other: Stephen and Jane Magaziner, James Magaziner and Sheila Saunders, and Sally and William Oliver. Additionally, she is survived by her grandchildren and spouses, Russel Scott and Lauren Magaziner, Eric and Jennifer Magaziner, Sara Oliver, as well as Katherine Magaziner, Emily Magaziner and their mother Elaine Strause Magaziner.  Irene is also survived by three great grandchildren, Nora, Ginny and Beth Magaziner. 
A memorial service will be held at The Unitarian Society of Germantown at 1;30 PM on June 3rd, 2018.