Anita Marie Benvignati of Downingtown, 64, of Downingtown, passed away peacefully on February 8, 2011, at Saint Martha Manor in Downingtown, where she lived and was lovingly cared for during the past four years. Anita was born on January 6, 1947, in Lancaster, to Margaret Benvignati and the late Bernard Benvignati. She studied economics in the late 1960s when that field was a rare choice for a woman. She earned her bachelor of science (1968) and her Ph.D. (1978) at the University of Pennsylvania, completing her dissertation on international technology transfers in the textile industry. While there, she met her life-long friend Linda Wiesner and her ex-husband John Kwoka. After completing her degrees, she worked as a professor of economics, teaching microeconomics and international trade at Georgetown University, George Washington University, and the John F. Kennedy School of Government at Harvard University. In 1974, she married John Kwoka and in 1980 they had a daughter, Margaret Benvignati Kwoka. They lived for many years in Vienna, Va., outside Washington, D.C. Margaret, now a lawyer by profession, is following in her mother's footsteps as an academic, a choice that would have made Anita proud. Although their long marriage had ended, John and Anita remained very close, sharing the joys and milestones in Margaret's life, and supportive of each other in difficult times. Anita loved to travel. She and John, and later with Margaret, took many trips to destinations in Poland, England, France, Italy, Denmark, Canada, Puerto Rico, and in all corners of the United States. Anita cherished those memories, memorializing every trip with a photo album of her family's adventures. She also loved her own hobbies, creating beautiful pottery, playing tennis, cooking family recipes, and gardening. Anita survived cancer in 1987 and dealt with that and other adversities with calmness and courage. Over the past five years as she has struggled ever more with her health, her strongest qualities have shined through: her strength, her generosity, her boundless love for family and friends, her cheerful demeanor, and her wonderful smile. Anita is survived by her mother, Margaret Mary Benvignati, sister Carol Benvignati, daughter Margaret Benvignati Kwoka, son-in-law Csar Cuauhtmoc Garca Hernndez, ex-husband John Kwoka, dear friends Caroline Burnett, Linda and Peter Wiesner, her closest cousins Elsie and Anthony Trotter, and many other family and friends, all of whom will miss her dearly.