Anna Lou Dehavenon

Anna Lou Dehavenon (24 November 1926, Bellingham, Washington — 28 February 2012, Greenport, New York) was an American urban anthropologist primarily known for her pioneering research on hunger and homelessness, which led to a 1979 "right to shelter" landmark ruling in New York City. She was married to renowned pianist William Kapell (1922—1953), who tragically died in a plane crash at only 31. Anna Dehavenon published Kapell's diaries and participated in the production of several posthumous records, including The Australian Broadcasts reDiscovered 2xCD album on Sony BMG Masterworks/RCA Red Seal, featuring William's last concerts in Australia privately recorded on acetates in 1953 from the radio broadcast. Rebecca began her music studies at Reed College in Oregon, transferring after two years to DePaul University in Chicago, where she studied with renowned Russian-American pianist Sergei Tarnowsky (1883—1976). She met a talented pianist, William Kapell, in Chicago, and they married in 1948. When Kapell died in a plane crash, Dehavenon suddenly became a single mother of two in New York without any source of income. This traumatic experience inspired her decision to become an expert on homelessness. Anna Lou sued the British Commonwealth Pacific Airlines, its parent company Qantas, and the British Overseas Airways Corporation, which sold William the airplane ticket. In 1964, following a decade of litigations, she was finally awarded $924,000 in damages, overturned on appeal the year later. Dehavenon earned her Ph.D. in anthropology at Columbia University in 1978 and taught at Mount Sinai School of Medicine and the Albert Einstein Medical College in the Bronx. In 1955, Dehavenon married an African art collector and dealer, Gaston Taieb de Havenon (1904—1993), whom she also survived due to an age difference.