Biography

September 16, 1943 · Manhattan, New York City, New York, USA

March 20, 2002 · Los Angeles, California, USA (complications from surgery)

Akers was a descendant of William Ellery, who signed the Declaration of Independence. Her maternal grandfather was John Russell Pope, the architect who designed the Jefferson Memorial. Her father, Anthony B. Akers, was ambassador to New Zealand.

An extremely intelligent actress and philanthropist, in the early 1980s she founded Synergy International, a group of video and electronic artists, mathemeticians, computer scientists and others, for the purpose of exchanging ideas.

Akers was an artist, actress, and philanthropist. In 1986, she founded the Los Angeles-based "Essence Institute", originally named the "International Synergy Institute", an interdisciplinary think tank of video and electronic artists, mathematicians, computer scientists, and others.