Beth Ann White, savvy entrepreneur, bank financier, and animal rights activist, has died at 56

Beth Ann White, 56, of Philadelphia, savvy entrepreneur, former bank financier, Realtor, and animal rights activist, died Wednesday, Oct. 19, of a heart attack while traveling in Narragansett, R.I.

A lifelong Philadelphian, Mrs. White was president and managing member of the Wissahickon Stone Quarry in Glenside and co-owner and general manager of the 1859 Wellness Spa & Salon in Manayunk. She was a former Realtor and vice president at Wachovia financial services, now Wells Fargo, and onetime acting chief executive officer of the Pennsylvania Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals.

“She always had a lot of energy,” said her husband, John. “She never stopped giving and devoted her time to many people. She never got enough of giving.”

The Wissahickon Stone Quarry is a family-run company that closed in the early 2000s during the economic crisis and construction slowdown. Mrs. White, then working as a Realtor for the Davidson Group, assumed control of the firm in 2008 and restructured its business model and development strategy. It has since reopened and regained its financial footing.

In 2018, after her local spa relocated, she and a partner, noticing few wellness centers in Manayunk, opened the 1859 Wellness Spa & Salon on Main Street. And, while the business had to close during the pandemic, it reopened in 2020.

A 1996 graduate of the Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania, Mrs. White began her financial career as an administrative assistant at MGIC Investment Corp., PFM financial advisers, and Brown Brothers private investment bank. She was organized and motivated, and, eager to expand her influence, earned her bachelor’s degree in business administration, marketing, and accounting by attending night school at Wharton while working full time.

She joined First Union Corp., which became Wachovia, in 2000 and spent four years traveling the world and working on million-dollar deals as vice president and national sales consultant coordinator. “I had an exceptional career,” she said in a short online profile.

Mrs. White was also a vociferous defender, benefactor, and rescuer of animals, especially dogs. A longtime board member of the Pennsylvania Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals, she served as acting CEO in 2009 and was an honorary board member of Beirut for the Ethical Treatment of Animals.

She and her husband chaired local SPCA benefit galas, and she championed efforts by SPCA International to reunite U.S. soldiers with dogs they had unofficially adopted while in combat zones. She traveled several times to Lebanon, to coordinate the reunions, and her husband said: “Beth often remarked that the expressions on the faces of the soldiers and the dogs when reunited made this effort one of her life’s great thrills.”

Born Dec. 2, 1965, in Philadelphia, Beth Ann Smith grew up in Roxborough and graduated from John W. Hallahan Girls’ Catholic High School. She married John Dumpke, and they divorced later.

She met financial executive John White, and they married in the early 2000s, and she welcomed his children and grandchildren into her life. She lived in Roxborough and then moved with her husband to Chestnut Hill after their marriage.

Mrs. White traveled to Europe and around North America. She liked to read romance novels and crime mysteries, so it’s no surprise that her favorite TV shows were Friends and Law and Order.

“You were an honest and thoughtful person who was always there to help kick life or the occasional problem in the knickers,” a friend said in a tribute. Another said: “She always had us smiling and laughing.”

Mrs. White liked to cook, and she and her husband entertained often at their home. He admired her “natural role as the life of the party” and became wary when she mentioned, as she often did, that she knew of a dog that needed to be rescued.

Of their four dogs — Grady, Duffy, Lucee, and Michelle — two had been rescued on rather short notice. “She loved the company of dogs,” her husband said.

In a tribute, a friend said: “Beth’s passion for animals, friends, family, and the overall community will be missed.”

In addition to her husband and parents, Carol and John Smith, Mrs. White is survived by a sister and other relatives.

A celebration of her life was held Nov. 3.

Donations in her name may be made to Beirut for the Ethical Treatment of Animals, 133 Street 1802, GF Hesayne Bldg. 21211 Hazmieh ML, Lebanon.