Vera Neumann; Scarf, Sportswear Designer

Vera Neumann, the artist and designer who became internationally famous for her brightly printed Vera label scarves, sportswear and linens, has died in North Tarrytown, N.Y.

She was 84.

Mrs. Neumann, a painter who used only her first name professionally and scrawled it across her colorful designs, died Tuesday in a nursing home of cardiac arrest after surgery.

Her popular motifs included flowers, leaves, ferns, grass, vegetables, the sun and perhaps her favorite--the ladybug, which she said meant “good luck in every language.”

“Color,” said the well-traveled artist, “is the language I speak best.”

Born in Stamford, Conn., she took night classes at Cooper Union and started designing children’s furniture and murals. Her husband, George Neumann, and a third partner, F. Werner Hamm, started a business in 1946. Their first order was for three place mats made of parachute silk.

By 1977, Vera designs were sold in more than 1,200 stores. The company was bought by Manhattan Industries for $5 million in 1967, and since 1988 has been a division of Salant Corp.

When she came to Los Angeles in 1981 for a show of her work sponsored by the former May Co., Mayor Tom Bradley proclaimed a “Salute to Vera Week.”

Mrs. Neumann supplied designs to Scarves by Vera and Linens by Vera until a short time ago.

Her husband and business partner died in 1960. She is survived by a daughter, Evelyn Fyler, of Ossining, N.Y.; a son, John Neumann, of Carmel, N.Y., and four grandchildren.