John B. O'Hara | Managing partner, 86

John B. O'Hara, 86, formerly of Wynnewood, a retired Price Waterhouse partner, died Monday at Shannondell, a retirement community in Audubon.

After earning a master's degree in business administration from Harvard University in 1946, Mr. O'Hara joined the Price Waterhouse accounting firm in Philadelphia. He retired in 1981 as managing partner of the firm, which is now PricewaterhouseCoopers. He was coauthor of the textbook Effective Use of Statistics in Accounting and Business.

A native of Newark, N.J., Mr. O'Hara earned a bachelor's degree from Lehigh University in Bethlehem, Pa. During World War II, he served in the Army and participated in the Normandy invasion and the Battle of the Bulge.

His ancestors settled in America in the 1600s, and he was a history enthusiast, said his wife, Dorianne Holliday O'Hara. In 1972, he was a founder of the Friends of Independence Historical Park, a fund-raising association for the park. He and his wife gave the park an 1816 copperplate copy of the Declaration of Independence in 1993.

He supported both Republican and Democratic candidates, she said, and dined at the White House on several occasions. He volunteered to feed the homeless in area soup kitchens and organized the annual mayor's prayer breakfast in Philadelphia in the 1960s. He also co-authored a textbook with R.C. Clelland

Mr. O'Hara resigned from the Union League in Philadelphia 40 years ago, when it refused memberships to Jews, African Americans and women. He rejoined when the policy changed.

In addition to his wife of 21 years, he is survived by a son, Ralph, and daughter, Cynthia; stepdaughters Sara Reese, Janet Reed and Carol Kadoch; 12 grandchildren; and one great-grandchild. His wife of 38 years, Ruth McCabe O'Hara, died in 1980.

The funeral will be at 11 a.m. Saturday at All Saints' Episcopal Church, Montgomery Avenue and Gypsy Lane, Wynnewood.