"She was the best mother-in-law you could have," said Ellie Younani, who is married to Nabatian's only son, Ben Rahbarpour.
It was the joy of cooking that brought her to the outdoor market with her grandson and the baby's mother, Janet Davidi, a daughter who lives nearby.
For The Record
Los Angeles Times Saturday July 19, 2003 Home Edition Main News Part A Page 2 National Desk 0 inches; 29 words Type of Material: Correction
Santa Monica victims -- A profile in Friday's section A of Lynne Weaver, a victim in the Santa Monica Farmers' Market crash, misspelled Allie Roverud's first name as Ellie.
In addition to her husband, son, and Davidi, she is survived by three other daughters, Parvaneh Abrishamian of New York, Pouran Ahdoot of Washington and Jaklin Zar of Los Angeles. She is also survived by 10 grandchildren.
Brandon, the 11th grandchild, was the son of Janet and Shahriar Davidi of Los Angeles.
A memorial service is tentatively scheduled for 3 p.m. Sunday at Eden Memorial Park, 11500 Sepulveda Blvd., Mission Hills.
KEVIN McCARTHY
DIANA GONG McCARTHY
Opportunities had
brought them West
In mid-life, filmmaker Kevin McCarthy and his wife, an interior designer, took a chance. They ditched Port Washington, N.Y., for Los Angeles, where Kevin planned to finish his first full-length feature film.
The couple settled in Venice seven months ago. Diana Gong McCarthy, 41, a classical pianist, singer and designer who had created interior looks for some of New York's largest corporations, was the more practical of the two.
Diana's father, a chef in New York's Chinatown, was visiting and planning a special meal Wednesday night. They were shopping for fresh greens when the Buick appeared out of nowhere. Diana's father was among the injured and was hospitalized Wednesday night.
He learned Thursday that his daughter and son-in-law had been killed.
Diana had a fine arts degree from the New York Institute of Technology and worked more than 15 years as a project manager for architectural firms, banks and furniture designers. She had hoped to start a feng shui consulting business, but had taken part-time work at the Skirball Cultural Center.
Kevin McCarthy, 50, took odd jobs and finished his film two weeks ago, according to actor and longtime friend Francesco Mazzini.
Titled "The Rouge Shoes," the self-financed black-and-white feature owed as much to Federico Fellini as Buster Keaton, said Mazzini, who stars in the film.
Slight and bespectacled, Kevin had a degree in literature and a thousand ideas, Mazzini said. He spoke at length about books, art and politics.
"Everything that came out of his mouth was like a little poem," Mazzini said.
It was partly his poetry that attracted Diana, who was a manager at a Chase Manhattan bank branch when they met. The differences in their job status made a romance seem improbable. "He charmed her somehow with his goofiness," Mazzini said.
The decision to come to Los Angeles was not easy for the couple, recalled Ilaan Egeland, Mazzini's girlfriend. They knew they were older than most people starting out in the capital of the movie industry.
"I think together they forged the courage to do something new that they wouldn't have done individually," she said.
Diana took to her Sunday job welcoming visitors at the Skirball Center, where Egeland also works. Her poise, professional experience and education made her "one of these miracle people who come along once in a while for a nonprofit cultural institution," said Lori Starr, the center's senior vice president. "She was warm, kind, funny."
With Kevin's film project finished, it was a period of anticipation for the couple when they visited the farmers market on Wednesday. Mazzini said McCarthy had given him a copy of the finished film. But they had not yet watched it together. They were waiting for a chance to see it on a big screen.
On Thursday, Mazzini said he had a hard time imagining his friend's life ending at a farmers market.
Mazzini said McCarthy probably hadn't eaten a vegetable in years. He was a pizza kind of guy, he said.
*
This article was reported by Times staff writers Daniel Hernandez, Jennifer Mena, Nora Zamichow, Robert J. Lopez, Connie Stewart, Scott Glover, Joel Rubin, Megan Garvey, Jessica Garrison, Carla Hall, Allison Hoffman, Rich Connell, Richard Fausset, Steve Hymon and Li Fellers. It was written by Geoffrey Mohan.
