Leila M. Panowitz, a Baltimore City and Harford County public school teacher, died of cancer Thursday at her Bel Air home. She was 54.
Born Leila McDonald, she was a native of Norfolk, Va., and moved to the Hamilton section of Baltimore in 1962. She graduated from Eastern High School in 1966 and earned a degree in elementary education in 1970 from what is now Towson University.
She met Edward A. "Skip" Panowitz at St. John's United Methodist Church of Hamilton. The two married in 1969 and lived in Gardenville.
Mrs. Panowitz taught a combined third- and fourth-grade class at Highlandtown Elementary School until 1974, when the Panowitzes moved to Bel Air.
She returned to teaching in 1985, teaching sixth-grade mathematics at Bel Air Middle School until Thanksgiving this year.
"Because she loved it, the kids loved it," said Nancy Reynolds, principal of Bel Air Middle School. "We had many, many parents request her as a teacher."
Her husband said Mrs. Panowitz was driven by a desire to help children.
"Whatever time was necessary to help a child through, she did it," Mr. Panowitz said. "She felt she was accomplishing something."
Mrs. Panowitz also enjoyed decorating and crafts. She loved wallpapering, stenciling and making baskets, which she frequently gave away to friends and family, her husband said.
She also collected miniature houses, owning more than 100 Dept. 56 ceramic houses and Cat's Meow wooden houses.
Mrs. Panowitz struggled with cancer for five years. She had planned to retire after finishing this school year and work at Automobile Collectibles, a hobby business selling miniature collectible vehicles that she co-owned with her husband for 10 years.
Mrs. Panowitz's other love was driving her Chevrolet Cavalier convertible. She and her husband also owned several Ford Thunderbirds and were active in the Mid-Atlantic Thunderbird Club, in which they held several leadership positions. Mrs. Panowitz also was a former secretary of the International Thunderbird Club.
Funeral services will be held at 11 a.m. tomorrow at Bel Air United Methodist Church, 21 Linwood Ave., Bel Air.
In addition to her husband, survivors include a son, Scott Eric Panowitz of Bel Air; a daughter, Kara Lynne Panowitz of Bel Air; and two sisters, Annette Widen of Chesapeake, Va., and Pamela Cox of Goode, Va.