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H. Gates Lloyd III, 91, investment banker and active civic volunteer

Mr. Lloyd grew up in a house on Darby Road in Haverford. In 1996, he returned to live in a senior community on the property, bringing his life full circle.

H. Gates Lloyd 3d
H. Gates Lloyd 3dRead moreCourtesy of the Lloyd Family (custom credit)

H. Gates Lloyd III, 91, of Haverford, an investment banker, civic volunteer, and member of a prominent Philadelphia-area family, died Wednesday, Sept. 25, of respiratory failure at his home.

Mr. Lloyd was born in Bryn Mawr in 1928, the son of H. Gates Lloyd Jr. and Eleanor Biddle Barnes Lloyd. He was a resident of the Main Line for his entire life.

Mr. Lloyd graduated from Deerfield Academy in Massachusetts in 1946, Princeton University in 1950, and Columbia Business School in 1952. While at Princeton, he was a member of the Cottage Club.

In 1952, he joined the Philadelphia investment banking firm of Drexel & Co., predecessor of Drexel Burnham.

In 1959, he was elected president of the Investment Association of Philadelphia. At that time, he had been working with Drexel for only seven years. He was made a partner in 1964.

He retired from Drexel in 1986 after suffering brain trauma when he was struck by a car while crossing a street in London.

By joining Drexel, he followed in the footsteps of his father, who graduated from Princeton in 1923 and made partner at Drexel in 1927. His grandfather H. Gates Lloyd was a founder of Drexel & Co.

The family made its home in a Tudor-style house on Darby Road. The house and its extensive grounds stayed in the family until the property was sold in 1987 to become the Quadrangle life-care community in 1989.

In 1996, Mr. Lloyd moved to the Quadrangle, bringing his life full circle.

Mr. Lloyd was frequently mentioned in Ruth Seltzer’s “Society” column in The Inquirer in the 1980s, as the chair of fundraisers for such causes as Philadelphia Orchestra and the Opera Company of Philadelphia.

In 1984, he went so far as to act as “the very proper butler” for a fundraising dinner at a private home, Seltzer wrote.

He volunteered on the boards of the orchestra and the Philadelphia Child Guidance Clinic, and served for 34 years on Pennsylvania Hospital’s board of managers. He was recognized with the Good Samaritan Award for his service.

He also served on the boards of Haverford Friends School, the Philadelphia Museum of Art, the Fairmount Park Art Association, and the Seybert Foundation.

Although Mr. Lloyd came from a socially prominent background, he was approachable, a trait that was highlighted by John C. McMeekin in a Sept. 29 online tribute.

“It was my good fortune to meet Mr. Lloyd, a member and manager of the Board of Trustees,” wrote McMeekin, who at the time of the meeting was a young Pennsylvania Hospital administrator. “We were all strictly instructed to address all managers as ‘Mr.'

“H. Gates Lloyd was a challenge. No matter how many times I addressed [him], I got it wrong. One day, he pulled me aside and said that it would be easier to just call him Gates. I didn’t, but never, to this day, will I forget his unassuming and open manner.”

Mr. Lloyd married Winifred W. “Perky” Lloyd in 1950. They had five children.

In 1963, Mr. Lloyd, along with other investors, founded Camelback Resort in the Pocono Mountains. The resort caters to skiers and snowboarders.

Before his accident, Mr. Lloyd played tennis and squash, and was a deep-water sailor. Although the accident forced him to curtail his physical activity, Mr. Lloyd remained “optimistic and forward-looking,” his family said.

Mr. Lloyd’s first wife died in 1994. In 1999, he married Ellen Arnold Lloyd.

Besides his wife, he is survived by children Lisa Hobson, Lallie Lloyd, Alice Lloyd, Gates Lloyd, and Bill Lloyd; stepchildren Barbara Aspinall Smith, Ellie Aspinall, Jane Aspinall, and Donald Aspinall Jr.; 13 grandchildren; three great-grandchildren; nine step-grandchildren; a brother; and two sisters. A daughter, Martha, died in 1958.

A funeral service will be at 11 a.m. Saturday, Oct. 19, at the Church of the Redeemer, 230 Pennswood Rd., Bryn Mawr. Burial is private.

Memorial donations may be made to Planned Parenthood, 1144 Locust St., Philadelphia, Pa. 19107, or the Philadelphia Orchestra Association, 1 S. Broad St., 14th Floor, Philadelphia, Pa. 19107.