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Stanley C. Tuttleman, 87, a man with the Midas touch who made a fortune manufacturing clothing and then gave away millions to causes throughout Philadelphia, died Thursday at Lankenau Hospital of complications following a fall at his Merion Station home on Sunday. He had been ill with prostate cancer.
"When I first met Stanley in 1991, I felt that I was in the presence of a great man," said Mark Solomon, founder of CMS, a financial-services firm. "He was the smartest man I ever met. This is a huge loss to Philadelphia - all you have to do is ride around the city and you can see his mark."
Mr. Tuttleman's philanthropy is legendary. He funded, among others, the Tuttleman Contemporary Art Gallery at the Philadelphia Museum of Art; the Franklin Institute's Tuttleman Omniverse Theater; the Tuttleman Library at Gratz College; the Tuttleman Chapel at Temple Adath Israel; the Tuttleman Imaging Center at Graduate Hospital; the Tuttleman Learning Center at Temple University and Philadelphia University; and the Tuttleman Sculpture Gallery at the Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts.
Gov. Rendell said in a statement yesterday: "Stanley Tuttleman was an incredible philanthropist and benefactor for arts, culture and education... . His passing, coming right after that of Fitz Dixon, is a real blow to our region."
A 1936 graduate of Overbrook High School, Mr. Tuttleman earned a bachelor's degree in economics in 1940 at the University of Chicago.
He enlisted in the Army in 1942. Mr. Tuttleman saw action during World War II as a field artillery officer in North Africa and was awarded the Bronze Star Medal. He was discharged in 1945. After the war, Mr. Tuttleman worked at the Wilson Bros. clothing manufacturing plant in Arthurdale, W.Va., until 1953. He returned to Philadelphia and married Edna Shanis, who brought two children to the marriage, and the couple had three more children. They settled in Bala Cynwyd until moving to Merion Station in 1982.
Mr. Tuttleman founded Quakertown shirt manufacturers, where he employed 100 people to make shirts for the Hathaway label. In 1960, he opened his first store, the Corner House, which sold inexpensive women's clothing. Within 10 years, he opened 14 more stores in the northeastern United States. His wealth was steadily growing. "If I made a million dollars one year, I would spend $150,000," Mr. Tuttleman said in an unfinished biography by writer David Block. "My wife was also frugal." "My dad prided himself on wearing the same pair of jeans for 20 years," said his daughter, Jan. "If a collar was frayed, he cut it off." In the early 1970s, Mr. Tuttleman cofounded Mast Industries, which under his leadership became one of the world's largest clothing manufacturers, with factories in nine countries. He sold it to the Limited in 1979 and remained with the company until 1983. In 1980, Mr. Tuttleman founded Midshipman, a firm that sold women's sportswear straight from the manufacturers in Season's Best stores. He opened what are considered to be the first outlet stores in Philadelphia, Salisbury, Md., Vermont and Connecticut. He sold those stores in the 1990s.
Mr. Tuttleman never retired. Instead, at the age of 70 he began biking hundreds and hundreds of miles with a group of demons who call themselves the AKs, after a Yiddish term for old-timers. They met every Sunday morning behind the Art Museum wearing bright red shirts and black shorts to begin a 100-mile trip. Mr. Tuttleman claimed to be the oldest person to compete in the Assault on Mount Mitchell in North Carolina, the tallest mountain in the eastern United States. He rode a bicycle from border to border in Colorado's Ride the Rockies three years in a row. He biked in Israel, Vienna and Prague. The AKs marked their 60th, 70th and 80th birthdays by donating benches with nameplates in Fairmount Park. Up until a year ago, he sailed along the East Coast and skied here and in Europe. Mr. Tuttleman and his wife often entertained in their expansive 1930s stone mansion on four meticulously manicured acres in bucolic Merion Station. The beautiful home is full of blue-chip 20th-century art. "We've had Henry Kissinger, Shimon Peres, Alan Dershowitz, all to raise money for our synagogue," Mr. Tuttleman said in a 2000 Inquirer story. "With tickets in the $1,200-per-person neighborhood, we've had as many as 200 people in here." In addition to his wife, daughter and son, Mr. Tuttleman is survived by his other son, David; a stepson, Zev Guber; a stepdaughter, Carol Guber; and 10 grandchildren. A memorial service will be held at 7 p.m. Tuesday at Temple Adath Israel, Old Lancaster Road and North Highland Avenue, Merion. Burial will be private. |
By Gayle Ronan Sims
Inquirer Staff Writer
Mr. Tuttleman and his son Steven started Highland Associates in Bala Cynwyd, a private-equity firm that purchases failing businesses and then resells them.