Patricia G. Corbin, financial whiz, dies at 62

PATRICIA GARRISON Corbin said that when she graduated from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology in 1971, "I wanted to be with people who needed things."

Over the years, the people who needed things ranged from the patients at a Florida state mental hospital to Philadelphia mayors William J. Green, W. Wilson Goode Sr. and John F. Street, and the clients of her multibillion-dollar financial-consulting firm.

Patricia Corbin, deputy city managing director in the Green administration; financial adviser to Goode; and chief executive officer and founder of Philadelphia-based P.G. Corbin & Co., one of the nation's top financial consulting firms, died Saturday of breast cancer. She was 62 and lived in Center City.

Being an African-American woman in such a high-powered field never fazed her.

"We don't market ourselves as an African-American-owned firm," she once said in an interview. "I guess the bottom line is that it opens doors, but if you can't perform, it also closes doors."

Besides working for Green and Goode, she was appointed by Street to the negotiating team for a new Phillies stadium in 2000, advised on a bond issue for expanson of the airport and was appointed to the Tax Reform Commission in 2003.

She also became treasurer and deputy executive director of the Greater Philadelphia First Corp. in 1983.

Patricia was born in Louisville, Ky., to William and Ruby Garrison. She earned a bachelor's degree in psychology and sociology from Western Kentucky University, and a master's in urban planning from the University of Louisville.

In 1971, she graduated as a Sloan Fellow from the Sloan School of Management at MIT.

She married James D. Corbin, who earned a living reorganizing transit authorities in various cities.

In the late '70s, she became a social worker at the South Florida State Hospital, the biggest mental institution in the state.

She called it a "sobering experience." She determined that she "wanted to be working for people, not working for an institution."

Shortly after that she moved to Philadelphia. As Green's deputy, she was responsible for developing operating budgets.

In 1985, she and her husband moved to New York City, where she joined Drexel Burnham Lambert, the Wall Street investment banking firm, and became a vice president.

After two years, she left Drexel to form her own company.

Today P.G. Corbin Group is an umbrella organization composed of several parts.

P.G. Corbin & Co. is a financial adviser to governments. P.G. Corbin Asset Management Inc. is a fixed-income manager to public and corporate pension funds, and Delancey Capital Group LP is an equity manager to corporations, public pension funds and individuals.

Patricia said that she learned how to win and keep clients while at Drexel.

Her secret, she said, was to stay in contact with customers after the conclusion of a deal to make sure it had gone well.

"I nurtured relationships," she said. "So out of that grew some form of loyalty."

After leaving Drexel, she became an independent consultant and kept many of her clients. That led to her forming her own company in 1986.

She is survived by her mother, two sisters and two brothers.

Services: 10 a.m. Saturday at Bright Hope Baptist Church, 12th Street and Cecil B. Moore Avenue. Friends may call at 5:30 p.m. Friday at Savin Funeral Home, 802 N. 12th St.