Sad news.

She was so cheerful and loving. I didn't know her well, but whenever I dropped by the store, she always greeted me and everyone in the neighborhood as if we were long-time friends. She had an artistic eye for unique home goods, like the Andy Warhol Lips dessert plates that I bought for an arty friend recently for her birthday. I'll miss her.

Owner of Go Mama Go! dies unexpectedly
Local philanthropist Chudnoff succumbs after head trauma
By ZACK ROSEN | Nov 6, 3:25 PM

Noi Chudnoff, local philanthropist and owner of 14th Street design shop Go Mama Go!, died this morning of head trauma sustained last night while being prepped for colon cancer surgery, according to her friend and employee Jeffrey Johnson. Chudnoff sustained a brain hemorrhage after falling and hitting her head last night and was kept on life support until her son could arrive in town from New Mexico this morning.

Chudnoff was born in Thailand and came to study in the U.S. at a young age. Go Mama Go! opened in 2000 as a stand at Eastern Market and moved to 14th Street the following summer. Though she was not aware that she was moving into such a gay neighborhood, Chudnoff's outgoing nature soon brought her close relationships with many of her gay customers.

Those relationships led to Chudnoff becoming a major donor for a number of local gay charities and organizations, including The Lesbian Service, Whitman-Walker Clinic and Ganymede Arts, the gay arts organization of which Johnson was the artistic director.

"She was dedicated to almost everybody else but herself," Johnson says. "You could walk into the store and she was a unique soul, she was very passionate with all her customers. She talked to everybody and got to know everybody."
Chudnoff is survived by her husband Jonathon of Silver Spring, Md. and her son Nissim of New Mexico.