* Evy Cades; Valley Storefront Volunteer

Evy Cades, the petite powerhouse who used her skills as a real estate agent to coordinate several construction projects for the Jewish Family Service’s Valley Storefront, died Friday. She was 78.

The longtime advocate for the poor and elderly was a Van Nuys resident for 50 years. She served on the board of directors of the Los Angeles Jewish Family Service, a citywide agency that offers counseling, adult day-care and other services for the elderly and disabled.

When Valley Storefront, the North Hollywood arm of the agency, decided to expand in 1980, Cades was instrumental in arranging the purchase of the building the agency currently uses. She also founded a fund-raising boutique at the site, for which she got community members to donate jewelry and new clothes.

“Evy was the grand negotiator,” said Dorie Gradwohl, director of Valley Storefront. “If anyone could sell the Brooklyn Bridge, she could. She was just stupendous.”

In addition to her volunteer work for the Jewish social service agency, Cades was a supporter of the Los Angeles County Museum of Art, Museum of Contemporary Art and the United States Holocaust Museum.

Cades was born in Detroit in 1921. She was married for 35 years to Herbert Cades, who died in 1991.

Cades is survived by her sister, Thelma Ginzler, and brother-in-law, Harold Ginzler; her daughter, Celia Parker; son-in-law, John Parker; stepdaughter, Susan Cades; and three grandchildren.

The family requests that contributions be made to the Valley Storefront, in lieu of flowers.