Cherry Lowman

Anthropologist and health scientist administrator Cherry Lowman was a fantastic dancer and generous friend who always rooted for the underdog. She spoke softly, laughed hard and possessed an elegant beauty highlighted by garments and accessories from around the world. Among her passions: renovating and decorating houses; going to museums; travel; supporting the arts and artists; and cats. She died peacefully at the age of 85 in her home in Ithaca, New York on November 22, 2019.

Cherry was born in Tulsa, Oklahoma, on September 19, 1934, to Josephine Lowman, a syndicated health and wellness columnist with deep roots in Western Kentucky, and Shepard (“Pete”) W. Lowman, a petroleum geologist. She was raised with her adored older brother Shep in Houston, Texas, and Troy, New York. After undergraduate studies at Russell Sage and Barnard, Cherry received her PhD in anthropology from Columbia based on extended field work with the Maring people of the Bismarck Mountains region of Papua New Guinea in the early and mid-1960's.  She was an excellent ethnographer whose research and publications were about the sources and exercise of leadership and power among the Maring; the ecological and health bases of community growth and decline; and the interrelations of Maring art and war as expressed in shield designs. She worked for a time as Margaret Mead’s assistant at the American Museum of Natural History.

In 1979, Cherry moved from New York to the DC metro area to work as a health scientist administrator at the National Institute on Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism, a division of the National Institutes of Health. She administered grants, coordinated health services research, and published widely about treatment interventions, relapse, and alcohol problems in adolescents. Except for a few years at the Smithers Fund for Alcoholism Prevention and Recovery in NYC, Cherry worked for NIAAA until her retirement in 2014.

Cherry was married from 1962-1972 to anthropologist Andrew P. Vayda, with whom she had a daughter, Andi Vaida. She instilled in her daughter multicultural perspectives, curiosity about the world and a desire to help others. Cherry was partners for over 30 years with Curtis (Curt) Colby, a freelance writer and editor who died in 2016. In addition to New York City and the D.C. area (Bethesda, Rockville, Brookland and Capitol Hill), Cherry made homes in Milton, Delaware and Ithaca, New York, where she moved in 2015.

In addition to her daughter, Cherry leaves grandchildren Daniela and Maya Velasquez and son-in-law Juan Carlos Velasquez, all of New York City; dear friend Ron Ranftle, of Ithaca, New York; nieces and nephews; and a circle of devoted friends and caregivers including Jaromir (Jerry) Pisarcik, Wendy Joy Nickerson and Nudjarin (Pimpar) Unsin. Cherry was buried in Ithaca on November 25; a memorial service will take place in the spring.  In lieu of flowers, please consider making a contribution in her name to Alley Cat Allies (follow link in blue underlined words).