Barbara R. Mandell, an artist, sculptor and poet, died Sunday of Alzheimer's disease at Gilchrist Center for Hospice Care in Towson. She was 88.

A Baltimore native, the former Barbara Cohen was a 1931 graduate of Western High School. She attended classes at the Maryland Institute College of Art and the College of Notre Dame.

She married Sid Mandell in 1943, and worked with him at Sid Mandell's Restaurant from 1954 to 1980. Mr. Mandell survives her.

Her verse was published in several poetry magazines, and she received awards in various contests, said her daughter-in-law, Lori Joy Eisner.

In 1981, Mrs. Mandell and poets James R. McCready and Christopher T. George published the collection First, The Dream.

"Her friends remember her not only for her love of the arts, but for her love of people and passion for progressive causes," Mrs. Eisner said. "She was avant-garde in her approach to life and was interested in different cultures and new ideas."

Her son, Steven Mandell of Stevenson, said his mother was passionate about her family, education and the arts.

Mrs. Mandell was a longtime volunteer for the Red Cross Holocaust and War Victims Tracing and Information Center and a strong supporter of humanitarian causes in Israel, Mrs. Eisner said.

Mrs. Mandell's other survivors, granddaughters Kimberly Brandwin of Owings Mills and Dana Stoogenke of Chattanooga, Tenn., recalled fondly that she was a little "unorthodox" in her approach as a grandmother. She served them tofu long before it became popular, and she had them visit numerous restaurants along the Ocean City boardwalk until they found one that served ice cream with no preservatives.

Services were held yesterday.