Francis R. Strawbridge III, retired chairman at Strawbridge & Clothier and longtime civic leader, has died at 86
He spent 35 years with the department store and said his sales associates and other workers were his “store family.” His wife said: “His care and concern for employees was genuine. He had an innate fairness and goodness about him.”
Francis R. Strawbridge III, 86, of Bryn Mawr, retired chairman at Strawbridge & Clothier and longtime civic leader, died Monday, April 22, of age-associated decline at his home at Beaumont retirement community.
Mr. Strawbridge, the great-grandson of store cofounder Justus Strawbridge and the fourth generation to be active in executive management, served as chairman of the Philadelphia-based department store from 1984 to 1996. He joined the family business in 1961 as an assistant buyer and became a buyer, merchandise manager, secretary treasurer, and vice chairman before rising to chairman alongside his cousin, Peter Strawbridge, then president of the company.
As chairman, Mr. Strawbridge was responsible for the firm’s operations, personnel, control, planning, development, and research. He helped the company remain independent during turbulent economic periods, maintain gains in suburban markets and discount retailing, and report record earnings and sales in 1984.
He oversaw renovations at the flagship store at Eighth and Market Streets in the early 1990s and helped organize the company’s 125-year anniversary celebration 1993. He was admired by customers and colleagues for his friendly interactions and attention to detail, and he told The Inquirer in 2019 that holiday seasons were his favorites.
“Coming into Thanksgiving to the Christmas period is the most exciting hustle-bustle time of the year,” he said. “The stores are crowded. It’s a great time to be on the selling floor, mingling with the crowds. That’s wonderful.”
He said anyone who worked for the company was part of his “store family,” and his wife, Mary Jo, said: “His care and concern for employees was genuine. He had an innate fairness and goodness about him.”
Mr. Strawbridge especially enjoyed his time in merchandizing in the 1960s and ‘70s, he told his family, because he engaged with creative salespeople and buyers, and traveled to Europe and elsewhere around the world. He was known for chatting up customers on the fourth floor at Eighth and Market and tidying up displays as he made his rounds.
“He loved to meet new people and hear about them,” his wife said.
Mr. Strawbridge admired his cousin Peter, and they worked well together as senior executives. “He was a marvelous person, a straight talker and a straight thinker,” Peter Strawbridge said. “I couldn’t have asked for more.” The family sold the company to May Department Stores Co. in 1996.
Away from work, Mr. Strawbridge embraced Philadelphia’s culture and was recruited to leadership posts by many civic and business groups. He served on boards for the Chamber of Commerce for Greater Philadelphia, Germantown Hospital, Einstein Medical Center, Temple University, and other organizations.
He was president of the Botanical Society of Lower Merion and the Ralston Center, and he and his cousin were cochairmen of the 1991 fundraising campaign for United Way of Southeastern Pennsylvania. “He had tremendous interest in and respect for Philadelphia,” his wife said.
Francis Reeves Strawbridge III was born Dec. 14, 1937, in Bryn Mawr. He grew up in Villanova, graduated from Haverford School in 1955, and earned a bachelor’s degree in psychology at Princeton University in 1959.
He served in the Army and Army Reserve, and, as required of all family members in company management, completed an executive training program, his at Bloomingdale’s in New York. Family and friends called him Frank and Fran. His cousin Peter called him France.
He married Patricia Webb in 1962, and they had daughters Cynthia and Pamela. After a divorce, he married Mary Jo Beatty in 1969, and they had daughters Lynn and Meg. He and his wife lived in Philadelphia and Merion before moving to Beaumont three years ago.
» READ MORE: 2019 Q&A with Mr. Strawbridge
Mr. Strawbridge spent time at a ranch in Jackson Hole, Wyo., as a young man and returned to the area often to roam the open spaces. He played tennis and golf, followed the Eagles closely, and routinely kept score at Phillies games.
He traveled with his family, embraced his Quaker heritage, and liked to talk about art and history. He was “a gentleman, a kind soul,” a friend said in a Facebook tribute.
His wife said: “He had a great smile. He enjoyed people. He enjoyed life.”
In addition to his wife and daughters, Mr. Strawbridge is survived by four grandchildren, a sister, and other relatives. A brother and his former wife died earlier.
Services were held May 1.
Donations in his name may be made to the Beaumont Employee Scholarship Fund, 601 N. Ithan Ave., Bryn Mawr, Pa. 19010; Holisticare Hospice, 985 Old Eagle School Rd., Suite 504, Wayne, Pa. 19087; and the William L. Klink Jr. and Class of 1955 Scholarship Fund at Haverford School, 450 Lancaster Ave., Haverford, Pa 19041.