Frank H. Abbott, 90, lawyer

Frank H. Abbott, 90, a Philadelphia corporate lawyer who aided the hospital work of the Sisters of Mercy for decades, died Nov. 15 of renal failure at St. Luke's Hospice in Bethlehem, Pa. He was a longtime resident of Berwyn.

Sister Kathleen Keenan, senior vice president of mission for the Mercy Health System, said that Mr. Abbott, as a partner with the law firm of Schnader, Harrison, Segal & Lewis, worked on the 1969 merger of Fitzgerald Mercy and Misericordia hospitals to create Mercy Catholic Medical Center.

"It was Mr. Abbott's legal knowledge that guided the merger," Sister Keenan said.

Today, as members of the Mercy Health System, the Medical Center's two hospitals are known as Mercy Fitzgerald in Darby and Mercy Philadelphia in Southwest Philadelphia.

Sister Keenan said Mr. Abbott was interim chief executive officer at Mercy Fitzgerald for two years in the early 1970s and the first general counsel and executive vice president of Mercy Catholic Medical Center in the 1970s and 1980s.

From 1963 to 2004, she said, Mr. Abbott was a trustee on the hospitals' governing boards. He was chairman of the Campaign for Excellence, a 1990s fund-raiser for the facilities.

In May 1992, Mr. Abbott was a founding member of the Catherine McAuley Society, which, Sister Keenan said, was "founded to advance the health and welfare of the communities" that the hospitals serve.

Nicholas J. LePore III, managing partner at Schnader Harrison, wrote in a Nov. 17 statement circulated at the firm that Mr. Abbott "was widely regarded as one of the top management-side labor negotiators in the Philadelphia area."

". . . Those who knew and worked with Frank describe him as unflappable and as having great ability to defuse often contentious situations at the negotiating table."

Mr. Abbott, born in East Lansdowne, graduated from West Catholic High School, and earned his bachelor's degree in electrical engineering in 1940 at Villanova University and his law degree in 1949 from Temple University.

During World War II, he was a Navy officer who trained pilots to use radar and served on an aircraft carrier in the Pacific.

His son Richard said Mr. Abbott spent his entire legal career at Schnader Harrison, representing mostly management in labor negotiations.

Mr. Abbott's only labor-union client was the International Association of Motion Picture Operators and Theatrical Stage Employees, his son said. During law school, Mr. Abbott had worked nights as a projectionist at the old Trans-Lux movie house in Center City. He had been a member of the union until his death and had also served as president.

He was a member of the Union League, the Aronimink and Merion golf clubs, and the Rehoboth Beach Country Club.

Besides son Richard, Mr. Abbott is survived by sons Francis Jr. and Terence, nine grandchildren, and two great-grandchildren. His wife of 63 years, Elisabeth, died in 2006.

A memorial is set for 11 a.m. Saturday at St. Edmond Roman Catholic Church, King Charles and Laurel Streets, Rehoboth Beach, Del.

Memorial donations may be sent to Mercy Health Foundation, 1 W. Elm St., Conshohocken 19428.