Raymond Welsh, 84, financial adviser, philanthropist

At age 84, Raymond Welsh still prided himself on getting to work early each morning.

A partner at UBS Financial Services, Mr. Welsh had spent his entire career with the company. He waved off questions of retiring with a grin.

Last year, the company threw him a 60th anniversary party. Friends knew he would work as long as he possibly could.

"You could set a clock by him," said Ted Durkin, the branch manager and complex director at the company's Philadelphia office.

Mr. Welsh, of Haverford, a respected financial adviser and major philanthropist in the Philadelphia area, died Sunday, Feb. 14, after contracting a bacterial infection. His death came as a shock to many who knew him.

"He went 100 miles an hour," said daughter Margaret Hooper. "He just loved life."

Born in Summit, N.J., Mr. Welsh was raised in Chatham, N.J., and attended the University of Pennsylvania's Wharton School as an undergraduate. There, he met his wife, Joanne. They were married the day after he graduated in 1953.

After a stint as a Navy lieutenant on a cargo ship in the South Pacific, Mr. Welsh returned to Philadelphia and took a sales job at the securities firm Kidder, Peabody & Co. He stayed with the firm as it changed hands several times over the years, eventually ending up as UBS Financial Services Inc. in 2001.

Mr. Welsh became known for his astute grasp of the stock markets - "I'd put him up against anyone," Durkin said - and his meticulous research on behalf of the clients he advised.

But as he helped his clients amass wealth, Mr. Welsh was uniquely concerned with making sure he, and others, gave back. He served on the boards of a slew of charitable organizations and cultivated a knack for raising money.

"He's probably the best fund-raiser the Salvation Army ever had in Philadelphia," said Maj. A. Philip Ferreira, the organization's area director. Mr. Welsh chaired the organization's advisory board for six years.

In 2011, he joined the board of the Philadelphia Orchestra as the organization was facing bankruptcy.

"It wasn't so much that he was kind of a slick salesperson," said Matthew Loden, the orchestra's executive vice president of institutional advancement. "He had such a generosity of spirit, and he led by example so effectively that it was just kind of infectious."

Mr. Welsh was also a trustee at Penn, and gave generously to the school. He told Penn president Amy Gutmann that his time at the school had shaped him profoundly.

In his spare time, Mr. Welsh enjoyed dining out with his wife - they were married for 62 years - and tending the garden at his beach home in Avalon, N.J. He had six grandchildren and was visiting two at the University of Richmond the weekend before his death.

Days before he died, Hooper said, her father wrote her to tell her how "blessed" he felt.

"Everything," she said, "was just as he loved it to be."

In addition to his wife, daughter, and grandchildren, Mr. Welsh is survived by a son, Scott T. Another son, S. Randolph, died earlier.

A memorial service will be at 3 p.m. Friday, Feb. 26, at St. Christopher's Church, 226 Righters Mill Rd., Gladwyne.

Donations can be sent to the Raymond H. Welsh Memorial Fund, Penn Medicine Development, 3535 Market St., Suite 750, Philadelphia 19104, or Bancroft, 1255 Caldwell Rd., Cherry Hill, N.J. 08034.

awhelan@philly.com

215-854-2961@aubreyjwhelan