George S. Forde Jr., 77, retired lawyer

In retirement from his law career, George S. Forde Jr. was executive secretary from 2000 to 2010 of the John McKee Scholarship Committee, which offers college scholarships or vocational training for fatherless boys from the five-county Philadelphia region.

The scholarships were established in 1955 according to the will of John McKee, an entrepreneur and an Army colonel who died at 81 in 1902.

The scholarship website explains that, though not a Catholic, McKee directed his estate assets to the Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Philadelphia because, "as a young man, he was stricken with smallpox."

"He found that Catholic nuns would minister to him and other persons of color suffering from the disease while many other caregivers would not."

On Thursday, July 7, Mr. Forde, 77, whose work with several Catholic groups marked his life, died of complications from prostate cancer at his home in Chestnut Hill.

His wife, Joan, said he spent his career with the Philadelphia law firm now known as Stradley Ronon, beginning in 1959.

He became a partner in 1967, was chair of its trusts and estates department from 1987 to 1995, and retired in 1999.

She wrote in biographical notes that he worked closely with the Archdiocese of Philadelphia, was a member of the Cardinal's Commission on Human Relations from 1971 to 1977, and served on the executive council of the National Diocesan Attorneys' Association from 1988 to 1999.

He was a member of the board of directors of Catholic Social Services in the archdiocese from 1989 to 2006.

Among his several responsibilities for the archdiocese, according to a 1992 Inquirer report, he was the lawyer for the Sister Servants of the Immaculate Heart of Mary.

As part of his efforts for unfortunate youth, his wife said, he was a director of St. Gabriel's Hall, a residential program in Audubon, Montgomery County, for delinquent young men, according to its website.

Mr. Forde was chairman of the Philadelphia Interfaith Council on the Holocaust from 1972 to 1977, his wife said, and a member of the Catholic League for Religious and Civil Rights and the Pro-Life Coalition, among other organizations.

Born in Plainfield, N.J., Mr. Forde graduated from La Salle College High School in 1951, earned a bachelor of science degree at what is now St. Joseph's University in 1955, and graduated from Villanova University Law School in 1958. He was on active duty in the Air Force in 1958-59 and was a member of its Reserve until 1964.

His wife said he later headed the Villanova Law alumni organization.

The Law Alumni Chapter at St. Joseph's gave him its Hon. Francis Z. McClanaghan '27 Award in 1991.

Though he was a Villanova Law alumnus, St. Joseph's announced after his death that he was "a founding member and past president," in 1990, of the St. Joseph's alumni chapter. The announcement called him "a man of integrity, scholarly achievement, and deep faith."

Besides his wife, Mr. Forde is survived by sons George and Jon, daughters Siobhan Crosby and Anne-Marie, and three grandchildren.

A visitation was set from 9:30 a.m. Saturday, July 16, at Our Mother of Consolation Roman Catholic Church, Chestnut Hill Avenue near Germantown Avenue, before an 11 a.m. Funeral Mass there. Burial is to be in Calvary Cemetery, West Conshohocken.