Si Picker, 94; businessman and actor portrayed Ben Franklin

Si Picker, 94, a retired business owner and actor who portrayed Ben Franklin until a few years ago, died of heart failure Friday, Oct. 14, at Martins Run, a retirement community in Media.

Mr. Picker operated Temple Appliance & Furniture Store in North Philadelphia from 1952 until 1998. In his 50s, he took on a partner to help run the business so he could pursue a longtime passion - acting.

"He was always a performer," his daughter, Anita, said. "When my brother and I were at summer camp, he would come up on weekends and took the stage in the rec hall and sang songs. He was a ham."

After his children were educated, his daughter said, he figured it was his time. A friend in the advertising business had told him he had a "great face" for commercials. Mr. Picker contacted him and signed on for an antismoking ad that won an award, his daughter said.

Mr. Picker attended acting classes at the Hedgerow Theatre in Media and in New York City and pursued a second career as a model in print ads and as an actor for TV commercials and shows and in films.

He could portray a coal miner or a banker, his daughter said. With a fake mustache and bow tie, he did an ad for a deli in Brooklyn, and he was photographed as Uncle Sam for the cover of a legal magazine.

In 1972, he got a job portraying Ben Franklin in an ad for the old Ben Franklin Hotel in Philadelphia.

Mr. Picker told the Philadelphia Daily News in 1992: "I felt I looked pretty good, so I kept the costume. Word gets around and you get jobs."

Mr. Picker portrayed Franklin for the Pennsylvania Lottery and for the launch of US Airways' direct flights to Munich, as well as in a 1990 episode of the TV show thirtysomething.

In 2005, he was still doing Franklin for bar mitzvahs and weddings, even though by then he was four years older than Franklin was when he died. He also did appearances that Ralph Archbold, who portrayed Ben Franklin full time, was too busy to do.

Mr. Picker told The Inquirer he continued to do Franklin because "I have great admiration for the man. And also because people are so receptive, especially the women."

In addition to playing Franklin, he had small roles portraying a variety of characters and was an extra on television programs and movies. Often he commuted to New York for work, and he and his wife traveled to Los Angeles for Screen Actors Guild meetings and when he had roles on the West Coast.

Mr. Picker served as vice president of the Philadelphia Screen Actors Guild and was a delegate from Philadelphia to the national board of SAG for 22 years, until 2004. He was also a member of the American Federation of Television and Radio Artists.

On his 80th birthday in 1997, he was honored for his service to the city's business, social, and cultural scenes with a proclamation from Mayor Ed Rendell.

Mr. Picker's last credited movie was The Family Man in 2000. He continued to work as an extra for several years, though he stopped portraying Ben Franklin three years ago.

Mr. Picker grew up in Elizabeth, N.J. He earned a bachelor's degree from Temple University in 1939, where he fell in love with Philadelphia and with a Temple coed, Lorraine Gilbert. The couple married in 1940.

During World War II, Mr. Picker worked in a naval shipyard in Miami Beach.

After the war, he and his wife returned to Philadelphia. He ran a catering business before opening his appliance and furniture store on Columbia Avenue, near Temple's campus. The store later moved to North Broad Street.

In the 1960s, Mr. Picker was president of the Columbia Avenue Business Association. He had a good relationship with neighborhood residents, and when rioters destroyed many stores on the avenue in 1964, his store was undamaged, his daughter said.

At Christmastime in 1964, he said that despite damage caused by the rioters, the merchants in the businessmen's association voted unanimously to distribute food baskets to the needy. "I think we can restore goodwill and harmony in this manner," he told The Inquirer.

Mr. Picker and his wife enjoyed traveling abroad and biking, hiking, and playing tennis. They were longtime residents of Glenside before moving to Martins Run in 2009.

In addition to his wife and daughter, Mr. Picker is survived by a son, Bennett; four grandchildren; and three great-grandchildren.

A graveside service was private.