Everett T. Keech, business entrepreneur, former government official, and onetime vice dean at Penn’s Wharton School, has died at 84

Everett T. Keech, 84, of Haverford, onetime vice dean of the graduate program of the Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania, retired adjunct professor of public policy and management at Wharton, former acting undersecretary of the Air Force, business entrepreneur, and Navy jet pilot, died Friday, May 24, of complications from Parkinson’s disease at the Quadrangle retirement community.

Mr. Keech’s professional career spanned more than six decades, involved high-profile work in the military, government, academia, and business, and sent him to New York, Washington, Philadelphia, the Mediterranean Sea, and elsewhere around the world. He flew Navy jets with John McCain, served vital roles for Presidents Gerald Ford, Jimmy Carter, and Ronald Reagan, shaped the master’s in business administration program at Penn for a decade, and helped many Philadelphia entrepreneurs turn their dreams into thriving businesses.

He moved to Philadelphia from Washington in 1977 to become vice dean and director of Wharton’s MBA program, and went on to mentor countless students and colleagues for a decade as a lecturer and adjunct professor of business policy, federal budget policy, corporate governance, entrepreneurship, and innovation.

He served under Ford from 1974 to 1977 as deputy associate director in the Office of Management and Budget, assistant secretary of the Air Force for financial management, and acting undersecretary of the Air Force. He helped Carter establish the Department of Energy in 1977 and was named chairman of the Board of Visitors for the Department of Defense Systems Management College in 1982 under Reagan.

As a businessman, he was managing director of Philadelphia First Group, board chairman at Laser Technology Inc. and Teletrac Corp., and chief executive officer, director, trustee, and senior consultant for many other firms and start-ups. He told The Inquirer in 1987 that he had a special affinity for helping small businesses because “you don’t have a safety net. Big companies have resources to fall back on. They can survive major mistakes. A small company can’t.”

His daughter, Allison Keech Sanka, said: “He thrived on connecting people and the challenge of business deals.”

He joined the Naval Reserve Officers’ Training Corps while attending the University of Rochester in New York, served in the Navy from 1961 to 1967, and flew A-4 Skyhawk jets off aircraft carriers on assignments in the Mediterranean and elsewhere. He was McCain’s wingman for a time stateside and elsewhere, and continued flying in the Navy Reserve until retiring in 1972 as a lieutenant commander.

Mr. Keech also worked as a consultant to the Department of the Interior and earned the Exceptional Civilian Service Award and Distinguished Service Award from the federal government. Locally, he served on the Pennsylvania State Ethics and Delaware Valley Regional Planning Commissions in the 1980s, and was a trustee for the Philadelphia-based Eisenhower Fellowships.

He helped found the Pennsylvania Center for Adapted Sports in Fairmount Park and was a member of Links Inc. and the Philadelphia and Cosmos Clubs. His wife, Ann, said: “He loved putting things and people together.”

Everett Taylor Keech was born Feb. 23, 1940, in Rochester, N.Y. He grew up in Westfield, N.Y., played the trumpet as a boy, and earned a bachelor’s degree in English at Rochester in 1961 and a master’s degree in business administration at Wharton in 1969.

He met Ann Holman in Boston in 1962, and they married in 1964, and had daughter Allison and sons Stephen and William. He appeared often in business and society stories in The Inquirer and Daily News, and he and his wife supported local groups, attended charity galas, and lived in Devon for 40 years before moving to the Quadrangle in 2018.

At first, Mr. Keech considered a Navy career in submarines. But he chose the sky, instead, mastered more than 20 kinds of aircraft, and flew with friends and family in private planes and gliders after he left the Navy. In 1967, en route to Willow Grove, the engine in his Navy F-8 Crusader jet cut out, and he steered away from buildings near Georgetown, Del., and parachuted to safety before the jet crashed in a cornfield.

He enjoyed reading and music, sang with choirs in college, and acted in plays in the Navy. But his real passions were spreadsheets and diagrams. “His personality was collaboration, doing research, and figuring things out,” his wife said.

He doted on his family, and they said in a tribute: “As in flying, the life of Everett Keech was one of many launches, heights, creative navigation, changing weather, and successful landings, with great teams on the journey.”

In addition to his wife and children, Mr. Keech is survived by two grandsons, a sister, and other relatives.

A celebration of his life is to be held at 11 a.m. on Saturday, Sept. 14, at Main Line Unitarian Church, 816 S. Valley Forge Rd., Devon, Pa. 19333.

Donations in his name may be made to the Parkinson’s Foundation, 200 SE First St., Suite 800, Miami, Fla. 33131.