Andrea S. Boxer, longtime social worker and infertility counseling pioneer, has died at 86

Andrea S. Boxer, 86, of Wayne, longtime clinical social worker and pioneer in infertility counseling at the University of Pennsylvania, died Sunday, April 20, of leukemia at her home.

Dr. Boxer earned a master’s degree and doctorate in social work at Bryn Mawr College in the 1960s and ’70s, and fashioned a notable 43-year career as a clinical social worker and expert in infertility counseling at Penn and its hospital.

She joined Penn in 1982 and worked in the Department of Obstetrics and Gynecology at the Hospital of the University of Pennsylvania, and later with clients referred from Main Line Fertility and other private groups. She retired in February.

Dr. Boxer was caring and honest, said her son, Lou. She was empathetic and curious, a lifelong champion for women’s healthcare, and especially adept at addressing delicate issues in stressful situations.

In a 1986 story about infertility, she told The Inquirer: “It’s important to recognize that each person experiences this process in his or her own way, and that those who seem to be handling the problem on the surface may not actually be doing well. … There is no substitute for being able to talk to each other. … The more vocal they are, the less pressure they feel.”

She also counseled about holiday stress, weight management concerns, and midlife crisis issues. She spoke at many workshops and public seminars, and her research on infertility was published by the American Society for Reproductive Medicine and others.

“People think that by keeping their feelings to themselves they are protecting their partners. That’s not true.”

“Andrea Boxer will help you learn how to deal with the pressures of family, friends, and ‘greeting card’ expectations of the holidays,” the Daily News said in a 1995 item promoting her appearance at a Penn Health for Women seminar at the Barnes & Noble bookstore in Bryn Mawr. In 1996, her address at a “How to Age with Style” seminar at the Radnor Hotel was called “Where Do I Go From Here?”

Her father, Harry, was a medical doctor in Center City, and she considered practicing medicine, too. But she found that her interest was drawn more to mindfulness and relationships.

“The human condition always interested her,” her son said. “She loved people.”

Many of her former clients kept in touch over the decades, her son said, and her refrigerator door was crowded with photos of their children as babies, teens, and adults. She was featured in several stories in The Inquirer and Daily News, and served as a consultant for author Lisa Scottoline’s infertility thriller, Most Wanted.

“You will have a greater feeling of control if you feel you’ve really chosen your treatment. ... Be involved in decisions so you don’t feel like a victim.”

“Infertility is a major life crisis which affects all aspects of a person’s functioning in marriage, work, and the community,” Dr. Boxer said in 1986. “Information is the best antidote to anxiety.”

Andrea Ellen Salzmann was born Jan. 6, 1939, in Philadelphia. She grew up in Center City, watched her father greet patients at his home office, and graduated from Philadelphia High School for Girls.

She met Arthur Boxer on the Boardwalk in Atlantic City, and they married in 1960, and had a son, Lou, and a daughter, Sarah. Her daughter died in 2005. Her husband died in 2020.

Dr. Boxer earned a bachelor’s degree in history at Penn in 1960 and her master’s degree in social work in 1965 and doctorate in 1976 at Bryn Mawr. She worked as a social worker in Camden before moving with her husband to Norristown and then Wayne in 1966.

She and her husband were avid readers, and “they ran out of room for their books,” her son said. She spent hours at the public library, cared for cats and dogs for years, and enjoyed watching through the window as birds gathered at her 10 feeders.

She liked to cook, garden, and do needlework. She doted on her grandsons and spent many evenings with the Philadelphia Orchestra.

When she was young, she made friendships that lasted her lifetime. “Her impact on helping people achieve their goals of becoming parents was partially on the great joy she had being a parent,” her son said. “She was the most fun-loving woman ever.”

In addition to her son, Dr. Boxer is survived by two grandsons, two brothers, and other relatives.

A celebration of her life is to be from 2 to 5 p.m. Saturday, May 17, at Strath Haven Condominiums Common Room, 801 Yale Ave., Swarthmore, Pa. 19081.

Donations in her name may be made to the Leukemia and MDS Research Fund at the University of Pennsylvania, Box 71332, Philadelphia, Pa. 19176; and the Abramson Cancer Center, 3535 Market St., Suite 750, Philadelphia, Pa. 19104.