DEVON, PENN. — Originally from New York City, Jill H. Abrahams (nee Newgarden) died on December 29, 2019, at the age of 92. She was the devoted wife of the late Edward Abrahams; beloved mother of Douglas (Rebecca), Havertown, Penn., and Dana Christy, New York City; and loving grandmother of Nicholas, Edward, Andrew, Luke, James, David and Favia. She was predeceased by her parents, Anne and Jack Newgarden, and her three younger siblings, Jacqueline Pickard (Teddy), Albert (Dorothy), and Mark (Elaine).

Jill attended Hunter High School and College and made her mark as a model, fashion designer and antiques and art dealer. Jill was a visionary and creative spirit whose passion for interior and fashion design led to many successful decades in both the garment industry and the world of art and antiques.

From the early 1950s-70s, Jill and her husband Edward owned several women’s sportswear firms in New York City: Banbury Cross, Fiddlesticks and Littlesticks among them. In the 1970s the couple opened their NYC antiques and art shop, Jill of Story Hill, and were frequent exhibitors at prominent antiques shows such as the Pier Show and the Armory Show in New York.

In the late 1970s, they relocated to the Philadelphia area (Langhorne and West Chester) and continued to exhibit at antiques and art shows in Philadelphia and New York. Jill was most recently a resident of Lower Merion (20 years) and Devon (7 years). She was an avid supporter and collector of early American female artists, with a particular focus on Lily Martin Spencer whose paintings appear in the Metropolitan Museum of Art and Smithsonian American Art Museum.

A private interment service will be held in March at Pine Lawn Cemetery, Farmingdale, N.Y.