EVA PASSWEG BARD

BARD, Eva Passweg. Feisty, smart, funny and loyal, Eva Bard died Sunday, March 17, 2013 at Retreat Hospital in Richmond. She leaves to mourn her passing, her husband, Tom; her daughter, Julia and her boyfriend, Ed Flanagan; her son, Philip; and the light of her life, her granddaughter, Sasha. She is survived by her two sisters, Ruth and her husband, Roger Dunkle, of Edison, N.J., and Judith Podell of Hebron, Conn.; as well as cousins, nephews, nieces, friends and students who will miss her greatly. Born in Strasbourg, Alsace-Lorraine in 1934, Eva immigrated to the U.S. with her parents and sister, Ruth, in 1940. Raised in Manhattan (she was a West Side girl), Eva attended Grinnell College in Iowa, where she majored in journalism and wrote a column for the college newspaper. While home on a summer vacation in 1953, she contracted polio. Her case was severe, with paralysis of her right side; the doctors held out little hope for her recovery. Rather than send her to a hospital, her mother chose to nurse her at home and she eventually made a full recovery, returning to college and the sport she loved, tennis. She retained her fluency in French her whole life, along with a love of good food and excellent wine. In 1960 Eva and Tom started their married life in Pennsylvania, later moving to Blackstone, Va. and finally to Richmond, where Eva worked as a tennis coach and pro, first for Jefferson Lakeside Country Club, then Raintree Swim & Racquet Club and finally at Virginia Commonwealth University. Eva trained and mentored players from around the world for VCU's women's tennis team for many years, until she retired. She herself was an outstanding athlete, before and after the bout with polio, excelling at tennis, ping pong and golf. Experiencing the war as a child, leaving her home at age 6, starting a new life as a refugee, those experiences shaped her and made her tough, someone who suffered fools poorly-if at all. But to those she loved, and for causes she believed in, she was a generous, fierce and loyal advocate. Sharp-tongued and intellectually nimble, in a fight, you'd want Eva on your side. She embraced the world, and it will be duller without her. Memorial service information to follow.

This obituary was originally published in the Richmond Times-Dispatch.