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Raymond P. Scott Jr., 87, auto dealer

Raymond P. Scott Jr., 87, of Gladwyne, retired owner and operator of the Scott Oldsmobile-Saab dealership in Wynnewood, died Sunday, June 7, of heart failure at home.

Raymond P. Scott Jr.
Raymond P. Scott Jr.Read more

Raymond P. Scott Jr., 87, of Gladwyne, retired owner and operator of the Scott Oldsmobile-Saab dealership in Wynnewood, died Sunday, June 7, of heart failure at home.

Born in Ardmore, Mr. Scott graduated from Lower Merion High School in 1946. He graduated from Colgate University and then from the Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania in 1951.

A lifelong athlete, he was a standout football player at Lower Merion and a quarterback on the Colgate football team.

Mr. Scott taught cryptography, the science of encoding data and messages, at Fort Gordon, Ga., during his Army service from 1951 to 1953.

The Scott family is known on the Main Line for its string of car dealerships. Mr. Scott's father, Raymond P. Sr., founded the first dealership, a Plymouth and Dodge franchise, in May 1929 on the eve of the Great Depression. Despite the fall of the stock market in October and the hard times that followed, the elder Scott "managed to endure and prosper again," according to a Scott family business summary.

World War II posed another challenge. To keep employees working and help the war effort, the elder Scott converted his shop to make aileron controls for the Grumman F4F Wildcat fighter planes and catapult carts for the Navy.

"When you look back on events like that, it really puts into perspective the economic troubles we are navigating through right now," Mr. Scott's son Andrew M. said in the business summary.

In 1953, Mr. Scott began a career in the automobile business. He had Mercury, then Oldsmobile, and finally Saab franchises. His son Raymond P. "Rip" Scott III ran the business for five years before Mr. Scott retired in 1995. The building on Lancaster Avenue in Wynnewood now houses a Nissan dealership; the Scott family acts only as landlord.

Andrew Scott followed in Mr. Scott's footsteps as president and operator of the Scott Family of Dealerships in Allentown.

Grandson Jeff Scott is sales manager at Scott Honda of West Chester. After a decade as marketing manager for Scott Honda, grandson Douglas P. Scott now handles marketing for Team Toyota Auto Group in Langhorne, unaffiliated with the Scott dealerships.

Mr. Scott was a past president of the Auto Trade Association of Philadelphia and the recipient of the Time Magazine Quality Dealer Award for executives who do well, support the automobile industry, and are leaders of their community.

He was a founding director of A Better Chance in Lower Merion - a college preparatory program that supports and houses talented minority students - and the Lower Merion Township Scholarship Fund.

He was a past president of the Main Line Chamber of Commerce and the Gladwyne Civic Association. A lifelong Rotarian, he also was past president of the Ardmore Rotary Club.

A lover of the outdoors, Mr. Scott enjoyed sailing, mountain climbing, kayaking, fishing, and canoeing as well as hosting family and friends at Ishnewtee, a family camp on a lake in New Hampshire.

He was devoted to his family, and his wife, Mary Anne, with whom he shared a 63-year love story.

Mr. Scott worked to instill proper values in his sons. "He will be remembered as a gentleman and a mentor to all who loved him," his family wrote in a tribute.

Besides his wife, sons, and grandsons, he is survived by eight other grandchildren; two great-grandchildren; a brother; and three half-brothers.

A memorial service is to be at 11 a.m. Saturday, June 13, at Church of the Redeemer, 230 Pennswood Rd., Bryn Mawr. Interment is private.

Donations may be made to Seasons Hospice & Palliative Care, 2200 Renaissance Blvd., Suite 110, King of Prussia, Pa. 19406, or the Waverly Heights Foundation, 1400 Waverly Rd., Gladwyne, Pa. 19035.

610-313-8102