Health & Fitness
In Appreciation of Swarna Matz
With great sadness, I wish to share the news of the death of a friend and colleague. Swarna Matz, founder and director of Bright Star Montessori, died July 5th after a long illness.
With great sadness, I wish to share the news of the death of a friend and colleague. Swarna Matz, founder and director of , died July 5 after a long illness.
Swarna served on the board of the for almost 15 years, and had served as a vice president of the Board for the last four years. Others will write about Swarna in the other aspects of her life, but I wanted to share my thoughts of Swarna as an involved and knowledgeable member of the Chamber and the Albany business community.
Swarna was generous with her time, and was always a lively presence at Chamber events. She had many years of experience with operating non-profit organizations and a business, and we frequently took advantage of her knowledge, particularly when hiring and working with our paid staff. Though her illness kept her away for much of the last year, my last communication from her was that she was looking forward to being active with the organization again. For the last several years, she generously sponsored our annual 4th of July Ice Cream giveaway, so that we could continue this very long-standing tradition.
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In meetings, Swarna held strong opinions. On occasion this contributed to debates that can only be described as “lively,” but Swarna was always respectful and open-minded, even when the heat in the room went up. If a decision was made that didn’t go her way, she accepted the will of the Board without complaint.
She was always 10 minutes late to Board meetings; after a while, that became endearing.
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Swarna had studied art in college and anyone who sat next to her in a meeting likely can verify that she drew impressive doodles on her notes. She mostly drew amazing flowers and intricate designs.
In many ways, I think that Swarna represented the goal of our Chamber of Commerce to build a community of involved, active business owners working together toward goals to support their business and to contribute to the broader community. I and the others on the Board miss her already.
Tod Abbott
President, Albany Chamber of Commerce