Susan Summers

Susan Summers died at home in Urbana, IL on March 23, 2023, in the arms of her wife and surrounded by friends. She was born on August 14, 1946, in Tacoma Park, MD to Jim Dick King Summers and Grace Eaton Summers. On May 19, 2013, Susan married her longtime friend Julie Hannaford Rundell and officially became Asher Rundell’s stepmother. Susan earned a BFA in Design & Production from North Carolina School of the Arts and a MFA in Theatre Lighting Design from University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign. Always a storyteller with a great wit and sense of humor, Susan is best remembered with a twinkle in her eyes and huge smile, complete with dimples, commanding a room with tales of her unique experiences and the many people she met during her career as a lighting designer and production manager for theatre and dance. Her career included designing for prominent regional modern dance companies, including the Carolyn Dorman Dance Company and Nai-Ni Chen Dance Company. She was Director of Lighting at the major regional summer festival ARTPARK, and Lighting Designer for A Celebration of Dance, a showcase tour for principal dancers from major NYC companies.  She also lit performances at the Saitama International Dance Competition in Tokyo. One of Susan’s gifts was her ability to mentor emerging artists, including when she worked at Interlochen Arts Academy, National Academy of the Arts, Virginia School of the Arts, University of North Carolina-Greensboro, and University of Illinois. She took special pride in having mentored Howell Brinkley, Tony Award recipient for Lighting Design for Hamilton, when he was in high school.  Susan had been a member of I.A.T.S.E Local #482 in the 1980s. Additionally she worked for many years with Cassidy Cataloguing Services.  With a huge heart, Susan was generous with her time and resources. Spurred by her nephew’s health battle, she was dedicated to raising money for HIV/AIDS services in California and New York by participating in many bicycle rides as both a rider and a crew member.  As she would say,“Walk it or ride it, I am out here doing it.” Susan was preceded in death by her parents, sister Sandra Summers Smallwood, and nephew Jeffery Smallwood.  In addition to her many friends, Susan leaves behind her wife Julie Hannaford Rundell and stepson Asher Rundell, both of Urbana, IL, as well as her nephews and their families. A celebration of life is planned for the summer and her remains will be interred in North Carolina in the fall.  In lieu of flowers, please make donations to The Michael J. Fox Foundation for Parkinson’s Research. Condolences may be sent to www.renner-wikoffchapel.com

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