Tanya’s Obituary/ Death Notice

Tanya Seaman died March 17, aged 54, after living a passionate life devoted to “the issues that mattered deeply to me.” Her life stands as a testament to her beliefs in protecting the environment, the central role of design and art, and promoting traffic safety.

Born May 18, 1967, the youngest of four children of Elisabeth and Lynn Seaman, Tanya grew up in Menlo Park, California. After high school, she spent a year in Venezuela as an exchange student with AFS International, becoming fluent in Spanish. She earned a BA in Design at the University of California, Davis, then earned a master’s degree in City Planning at the University of Pennsylvania focusing on public transportation. Since then, she has committed herself to her adopted home of Philadelphia.

Tanya was most proud of her central role starting PhillyCarShare. She was co-founder and CEO, launching the largest non-profit car-sharing program in North America from her living room. Over 50,000 Philadelphians gave up their cars. The City of Philadelphia joined PhillyCarShare, saving over $8 million annually by replacing 330 city owned cars with PhillyCarShare. Tanya’s leadership and passion made Philadelphia greener, and provided an example of viable alternative transportation across the country. 

Tanya was deeply involved with the South of South Neighborhood Association, helping to drive numerous improvements in the Graduate Hospital neighborhood over the last ten years. She led the Safety Committee, later called the Vision Zero Committee, promoting safety for all street and sidewalk users by improving street and intersection design and access. Most recently, she supported the Safe Pathways to our Schools project which provided improved safety at two public elementary school intersections by installing “bulbouts” with murals and delineators to protect the crosswalks. Tanya also helped organize for the 22nd Street protected bike lanes. 

Tanya co-founded a cross-neighborhood committee to address complicated intersections along Grays Ferry Avenue from South Street to Bainbridge Street. Out of that, the SOSNA Triangle pedestrian plaza was created. Recently, the committee has been working with the Streets Department to further develop changes along Grays Ferry.

To help attract and support small businesses in the neighborhood, Tanya developed an economic development website highlighting demographic and property data, building most of the content and graphics herself. Tanya also helped overhaul the Zoning Committee, proposing new operating procedures based on best practices from other neighborhood associations, and helped to ensure proper notification of affected neighbors. 

Beyond her neighborhood association efforts, Tanya helped author a Climate Action Platform for Philadelphia, a bold vision for the entire city to address the climate crisis. Published by the City of Philadelphia, it is a comprehensive assessment and passionate call to address climate change across all of Philadelphia.

Tanya was a board member of the Bicycle Coalition of Philadelphia for several years, working to protect the environment and promote active transportation. She was also a longtime Tree Tender leader of the Philadelphia Horticultural Society, helping install and maintain trees throughout the neighborhood.

In addition to her energetic work for Philadelphia, transportation and the environment, Tanya was a passionate knitter. With her artistic and visionary eye, she designed innovative knitwear, inventing new techniques shared through written and video tutorials. Her designs for sweaters, shawls and hats are shared on her personal website Designs by Tanya Seaman.

Tanya was predeceased by her father Lynn, and sister Ellen, and is survived by her mother Elisabeth, sister Peggy Wonder (partner Tom Reichert), brother Mark Seaman (wife Vesna Dapic), nephew Ruben Seaman, niece Carrie Cuadra (Eddie) and their four children, cousin Donna Rutan, and many friends. Tanya passed on peacefully, surrounded by friends, on March 17, after surviving metastatic cancer vibrantly for two years. 

Donations may be made to https://tinyurl.com/yv8knzxe for the SOSNA Triangles artwork project.

To attend Tanya’s memorial in person or remotely (date tba), please reach out to SpaceForYou.us@gmail.com for an invitation.