R. DENWORTH,
CIVIC ACTIVIST

By Michael Matza, INQUIRER STAFF WRITER

Raymond K. Denworth, 67, a witty Philadelphia lawyer whose passion for his profession still left room for civic activism and family adventure, died Tuesday of a heart attack while biking in Nova Scotia after a 10-day sail from Southwest Harbor, Maine.

'The nice thing about this trip was that it consisted of the two things Ray loved to do most on vacation: sailing and biking,' said Joanne Denworth, his wife of 37 years. 'He liked to work, but he wasn't a workaholic. . . . We planned to take more time, which regrettably we won't get.'

Mr. Denworth grew up in Swarthmore, graduated from Wesleyan University in Middletown, Conn., served four years as a fighter pilot in the Navy, attended the University of Pennsylvania Law School, and joined Drinker Biddle & Reath in 1961.

In 1967, he took a leave to serve as an assistant district attorney in Philadelphia. He rejoined the firm as a partner in 1968. Upon his retirement in 1997, he became 'of counsel' to the firm.

As a lawyer, his specialties were complex bankruptcies, securities litigation and what lawyers call 'deals gone bad.' In the early 1970s, he represented the outside directors in class action suits stemming from the collapse of the Penn Central Railroad.

Although he was devoted to his work, he could be passionate about play.

A sabbatical in 1979 to sail to Europe and back with his wife and twin children, Lydia and Michael, then 12, fed Mr. Denworth's hunger for adventure.

The 13,000-mile trip included stops on the Brittany coast and canals of France, island-hopping in the Mediterranean and a trans-Atlantic passage via the Caribbean, where his 41-foot boat was dismasted in a squall and had to be towed to Antigua by a freighter.

'We licked our wounds and by Christmas were having a marvelous time. He was so funny. He could make me laugh in the worst adversity. It was one of his greatest gifts,' his wife recalled.

The trip was also indicative of Mr. Denworth's passion for life.

'To be able to walk away from being a partner in a law firm for a sabbatical is pretty telling. I don't know a whole lot of people who could do that,' said Mr. Denworth's son-in-law, Mark Justh. 'I've been devastated by his death. But I couldn't imagine him having a slower speed. He used to say, `After you fly Mach-2, it's tough to get up in a propeller plane.' '

Colleagues recalled Mr. Denworth's attachment to the civic life of the city - as former chairman of the Philadelphia Port Corp. and as director of numerous charitable, cultural and educational organizations.

'One of his particular charms and great skills was bringing everyone to consensus - always with such humor,' said Helen Cunningham, executive director of the Samuels S. Fels Fund, on whose board Mr. Denworth had served since 1985. 'He was the epitome of grace under pressure.'

Once, Cunningham recalled, a grant recipient was supposed to build a program for children but instead used the money to build a program for elderly people. It was a good use of the funds, she said, just not the prescribed one. The board was stunned into silence by the announcement.

'Then Ray said, `Well, we could have [the recipient] arrested. Or we could give her another grant. I say give her another grant.' '

The humor broke the tension, Cunningham recalled.

'He was the kind of person who, if you had three board meetings in a day, he would be at all three and stay to the end without complaining,' said Derick Dreher, director of the Rosenbach Museum and Library. As vice chairman of the Rosenbach board, Mr. Denworth was overseeing an ambitious plan to double the size of the museum.

'He was a tremendous cheerleader for us,' said Dreher. 'We will feel the loss very deeply.'

As a former chairman of the board of the United Way of Southeastern Pennsylvania, Mr. Denworth is credited with negotiating the deal that brought the American Heart Association and the American Cancer Society into the United Way campaign as partner organizations.

'Previously, we were in competition with each other in the workplace,' said United Way president Chris James-Brown. 'With Ray's guidance, we each focused our capacities where they were most successful.'

James-Brown recalled Mr. Denworth as 'the person you most wanted to get criticism from because he cared so much that he just would not allow you to be `OK.' '

A longtime resident of Society Hill, Mr. Denworth had an attachment to Philadelphia that extended to all its neighborhoods, friends said.

'He made it his business to understand the community he lived in - beyond just where his house happened to be,' said James-Brown, recalling how Mr. Denworth once stepped forward to lead a committee on how to better address the needs of the city's Latino community.

'The greatest thing you can do is to contribute to your community,' said Joanne Denworth. 'Truthfully, I think that was Ray's highest value.'

In addition to his wife and children, Mr. Denworth is survived by three sisters and a grandson.

A memorial service will be held at 4 p.m. Monday at St. Peter's Episcopal Church, 313 Pine St., Philadelphia.

In lieu of flowers the family has asked that contributions be made to Wesleyan University, where Mr. Denworth served as chairman of the board from 1992 to 1997; the United Way of Southeastern Pennsylvania; and the Rosenbach Museum and Library.

— Philadelphia Inquirer, August 1999