Barbara Miller Anton

Anton, Barbara Miller
April 3, 1926 - May 20, 2007

Barbara Miller Anton, 81, Sarasota, formerly of Alpine, N.J., and Pocono Pines, Pa., died May 20, 2007.
Daughter of Walter B. Miller and Emma Hess Miller, she was married for 40 years to Albert Anton of New Jersey. They had no children. She is survived by many loving friends.
Mrs. Anton attended Antioch College where she majored in engineering, and Columbia University where she studied acting with Louise Gifford Lovejoy, and oil painting with Ralph Mayer. She also studied painting with Helen VanWyk at the Ridgewood School of Art.
A graduate gemologist, Mrs. Anton studied jewelry design at The Museum of Modern Art and The Gemological Institute of America. President of Barbara Anton, Inc., a jewelry design and manufacturing corporation with a store in Englewood, N.J., Mrs. Anton received 23 international awards for Excellence in Jewelry Design, including the Diamonds International Award and The Highest Award from The Cultured Pearl Associations of America and Japan. Mrs. Anton, listed as America's leading jewelry designer in the 1960s and 70s in Who's Who and The International Biography, had her jewelry shown at The Boston Museum of Art, 12 museums in Eastern Europe, The Hallmark Gallery on 5th Ave. in N.Y.C., and on many television programs.
Mrs. Anton designed the jewelry collection for the Pakistan Pavilion at the New York World's Fair, where she was presented with a 24K gold sari by president Ayub Kahn. For several years she served as fashion and design editor for National Jeweler Magazine, and her articles on jewelry design and gemology have been translated into many foreign languages for publication in Europe, Pakistan, and the far East.
After a career in acting, in which Mrs. Anton played leading roles as Shari in Bus Stop, Tallu in Desire on a Hot Tin Street Car, Paula in Over 21, Marie in Lilliom, and Vanessa in The Passionate Shepherd, Mrs. Anton turned to playwriting. She has had 33 plays produced in New York City, and has won many awards for her work, including 14 awards from Florida Studio Theatre, The Pennsylvania Playwrights Award, the Ohio Radio Prize, and awards from The McLaren Comedy Festival, Lamia Ink! International, and Writer's Digest. Mrs. Anton taught playwriting at The University of South Florida, and was invited by ArtLink to teach writing in Japan under their cultural exchange program.
Barbara's hobbies included flower arranging, for which she received many blue ribbons. She was founder and past president of The Pocono Mountain Garden Club, and was granted accreditation to teach Japanese flower arrangement. By invitation, she displayed arrangements at the Japan Society in New York City, and at museums in Montclair, N.J.
Baking was another of Barbara's passions. Her Harlequin Cake L'Orange was awarded grand prize in the Florida Citrus Contest held in Miami Beach. Prizes included a speedboat and trailer, a trip, a mink stole, a $5,000 shopping spree, and a monetary award.
Music, another avocation, brought accolades when her songs were published by Hanson Publications and recorded in N.Y.C. and Nashville. "The Candles of St. Lucia" receives extended radio play each year in Sweden on St. Lucia Day, and it was a Muzak favorite. When in her teens, Barbara played saxophone in a Pennsylvania dance band.
In addition to playwriting, Mrs. Anton published over 60 articles, short stories, and poems annually, and her work has been included in many anthologies. She published three books: My Guardian Angel is Exhausted, Terse Verse, and Savories.
Charities included The Barbara Anton Prize for excellence in playwriting, awarded annually by Florida Studio Theatre, and annual scholarships to The Ringling School of Art and Design and The Florida West Coast Symphony, among others. Barbara Anton's estate is being used to establish the Barbara Anton Memorial Foundation to benefit children with cancer of all races and religions.