Yvonne de Chavigny Segerstrom

1928 - 2019

Yvonne de Chavigny Segerstrom

May 4, 1928 - October 18, 2019

Yvonne de Chavigny Segerstrom, a Los Angeles artist, arts philanthropist, retail pioneer and member of the Segerstrom family, owners of South Coast Plaza, died peacefully at home in Los Angeles on Oct. 18.

She was born in San Francisco, Calif. on May 4, 1928 to Oscar and Anlo Perry. A sister, Anlo 'Cinders' McFarland, predeceased her. She attended private school at the Westover School in Stanford, Conn. and Hacienda Del Sol in Tucson, Ariz., where she had horses and loved to ride.

Yvonne was a debutante in San Francisco and dated Merv Griffin. She had a lifelong love of the arts and worked in a V.A. hospital teaching art to injured servicemen after World War II. She met her future husband Henry Segerstrom at a wedding in Palo Alto, Calif. They were married in 1950 in Paris by Pierre de Gaulle, mayor of the city and brother of Charles de Gaulle. They had three children: Andrea, Toren and Anton.

In 1953, she joined the Santa Ana Bridge Club and remained an active member until the last years of her life.

In the 1960s, she studied at the Laguna Art School with the painter Rodger Kuntz, who became a close friend. She also worked as a volunteer and docent at the newly formed Newport Harbor Art Museum, and as a volunteer at the Assistance League and the Ebell Club in Santa Ana.

In 1967, she participated in the ribbon-cutting of the family's newest venture, South Coast Plaza. With a keen eye for fashion, she was a co-owner with her husband of a Courrèges boutique, the first free-standing international designer boutique in Orange County, located at South Coast Plaza in 1975. They opened and operated boutiques by Halston and Yves Saint Laurent in 1976. Yvonne oversaw the fashion buys and attended shows in Paris.

It was during the late 1970s that Yvonne introduced her husband to the work of Isamu Noguchi, which led to the commission and creation of "California Scenario" in Costa Mesa, one of Noguchi's most acclaimed works.

In 1978, she divorced and moved to Los Angeles. She attended Otis Art Institute of Parsons School of Design, graduating in 1982 with a Bachelor of Fine Arts degree. During this time she was also a volunteer and docent at the newly opened Museum of Contemporary Art in Los Angeles.

In 1982, Yvonne acquired a residence on the Île Saint-Louis in Paris. For the remainder of her life, she divided her time between her residences in Paris and Los Angeles and used her Paris apartment as a home base for years of extensive travel. She spoke fluent French with a Parisian accent.

Yvonne established a studio in Los Angeles in 1986 on Traction Avenue in the area that is now the Arts District of Los Angeles. She was an accomplished painter, printmaker and jeweler, and had shows of her paintings in Los Angeles and Paris.

During her lifetime, she was a member of the Los Angeles County Museum of Art Director's Circle and the Museum of Contemporary Art's Directors Forum. She also was a long-time supporter of the Venice Family Clinic and Salvation Army.

She is survived by her children Andrea Grant, Toren Segerstrom and Anton Segerstrom, six grandchildren, and seven great-grandchildren.

There will be a private family memorial. In lieu of flowers, please consider a donation in Yvonne's name to the Venice Family Clinic, in Venice, Calif.