Faith (Avidon) Wohl

A Woman Ahead of Her Time, Pacesetter Faith Wohl Dies at 85

Faith Avidon Wohl, of Landenberg, PA, passed away at the age of 85 on May 3, 2021 after a sudden illness, surrounded by her family.  Mrs. Wohl was a resident of the Kendal-Crosslands community in Longwood, Chester County, for the past nine years.  

First and foremost, Faith Wohl was a devoted wife, mother, grandmother, and great-grandmother, while also being nationally known for her leadership in corporate communications, advocacy for child care programs, mentorship for working women, and support for a wide range of community organizations and the Arts.

She was married for 34 years to Howard Wohl, who preceded her in death in 1993.  Faith is survived by her brother Jeffrey Scharlin of Los Angeles, CA and a sister Wendy O’Toole of Georgia; a stepdaughter, Leslie Day Nishiura of New York City;and three children:  Bill Wohl of Landenberg, PA; Mike Wohl of Talbott, TN; and Jennifer Zinn of White Plains, NY; eight grandchildren; and six great-grandchildren.  She was predeceased by stepson David Wohl of New York City. 

She was a proud summa cum laude 1957 graduate of Adelphi University with a degree in Economics.  This launched her long career in publishing, corporate communications, and child care advocacy.  She was passionate about lifelong learning, earning a certificate in financial management from the Wharton School, University of Pennsylvania, and concluded her education in 2011 at the age of 75 with a Master’s Degree in American History from Arcadia University.

Faith and Howard operated a publishing company in the late 1950’s and early 1960’s whose primary business was producing “cruise books” which documented the sailings of the US Navy’s aircraft carrier fleet, and she was one of the few women at the time on board these huge ships.  

She joined the Dupont Company in Wilmington, Delaware in 1973, and held leadership positions of increasing responsibility in public relations, corporate communications, and human resources over a 20-year career at the company.  She assumed one of the company’s first female senior management positions as Director of Corporate Communications in 1981.  During that period, she was a champion of social issues like elder care, work-life balance, and LGBTQ issues before that label was even established.  She was a role model for women in business and mentored many up-and-coming women during her career at Dupont.  In 1984, she shifted her focus to tackle child-care issues, playing a key role in a company task force that delivered on her promise to help employees juggle family and work responsibilities.  As a result of her leadership and determination, Dupont adopted a variety of programs that set the bar high for the corporate world in family leave, elder care, and childcare.

As a result of her work, she joined national efforts focused on childcare, joining an official US delegation led by Hillary Clinton to study childcare programs in Europe.  Recruited by the Clinton Administration, Faith left Dupont, accepting a Presidential Appointment to join the United States Executive Service to direct the operations of more than 100 childcare centers for the federal government. During that period, she served as a key voice of the federal government during the Oklahoma City bombing as one of the childcare centers under her leadership was destroyed. Her testimony on Capitol Hill is credited with assuring that those childcare centers continued to be run in the wake of that tragedy. Her daily commute to Washington, DC on the Amtrak train meant that she was a regular train rider with then-Senator Joe Biden as they often shared trains together.  She also served one year as a member of Vice President Al Gore’s National Performance Review.

She left public service in 1997 to become the President of the Child Care Action Campaign and shifted her Amtrak commute north to New York City.  CCAC was the largest non-profit committed to safe, affordable, and quality childcare in the US.  That role gave her a platform to continue her advocacy for more and better childcare, work that won her recognition and admiration, including a lifetime achievement award from Creative Grandparenting Inc. in 2000.  She was honored by the Terry Lynne Lokoff Foundation as Child Advocate of the Year, presented with the Lewis Hine Award by the National Child Labor Committee, the national Y.W.C.A. office, the United Way of Delaware, the Delaware House of Representatives, Parenting magazine, and was profiled in Business Week and The Wall Street Journal.

She also put her management skills to work as chairman of the board of Enchantment Theatre in Philadelphia, PA where she served for many years, helping to guide the organization on fundraising and delivering outstanding performances across the United States as part of her commitment to the arts.  

Mrs. Wohl’s retirement was filled with visiting her extended family, being a grandparent, while also drawing, painting, listening to music, and being a voracious reader.  She was active as a member of the resident board at Kendal at Longwood, where she was known for her love of the gardens, and her relationships with many of the residents and staff -- all of whom admired her for her courageous and successful battle against leukemia over the past two years.  

Throughout it all, she was a positive force for her family with advice and encouragement even during periods of pandemic-forced isolation.  Mrs. Wohl was cremated, with a public memorial service being planned for later this year to celebrate her life’s accomplishments.  Her immediate family will memorialize her privately in the White Clay Creek State Park – at the site of a bench dedicated to her husband Howard, a park that came about as a direct result of her efforts while at Dupont to preserve property in both Delaware and Pennsylvania for use as a public park. The family will also honor her on the beaches of the Outer Banks, where she visited with her family each summer –a tradition she started and that will be celebrated for its 35th year this July in Kill Devil Hills.

The family wishes to acknowledge the amazing support Faith received from the staff at Kendal; the life-saving work of Dr. Sunil Saroha, Nurse Practitioner Nicole Mukalian, and the team at the Abramson Cancer Center of Penn Medicine who helped her knock leukemia into remission; and, finally, the outstanding ER and ICU teams at Chester County Hospital, whose efforts made her last days as comfortable as possible for Faith and her family.  

A public memorial service is being planned for later this summer.  If you'd like to learn of the scheduling of the memorial service, please send an email note to faith.wohl.memorial@gmail.com . You may also use this email address to reach the family.

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