Sidney neall repplier
Sidney Neall Repplier was born in Philadelphia on June 4, 1915, the third child of Sidney Joseph Repplier and Charlotte Walbaum Neall Repplier. Sidney had two sisters, Charlotte Neall Repplier (Kin) and Frances Neall Repplier (another sister, Adelaide Neall Repplier died at two years of age before he was born). He graduated from Germantown Friends School in 1933 and earned a bachelor's degree in French at Washington and Lee University in Lexington Virginia. On November 5, 1942 he married Eleanor (Tommie) Thompson Dill at the "Little Church around the Corner" in New York City. Sid and Tommie had six children together, Sydney Frost Repplier, Anne Dewees Repplier, Constance Neall Repplier, Jean Thompson Repplier, Frank Neall Repplier and John Lancaster Repplier.They raised their family in an old farmhouse in Horsham PA. 
Mr. Repplier's first job, as a reporter for the Harrisburg Evening News, was interrupted by World War II. He joined the Merchant Marine and the Coast Guard and spent most of the war patrolling for enemy submarines off the East Coast of the U.S. and in the South Pacific. When the war ended, he became a feature writer for the Esso Road News in Greenwich Conn. and then the editor of the weekly Bedford NY Villager. He came back to Philadelphia to take editorial positions with Country Gentleman and Farm Journal, magazines published by Curtis Publishing Co. Through his involvement with the Indian Rights Association, Sidney met Richard Bennett, who urged him to apply for the post as director of the Philadelphia Foundation, which Bennett then headed. Sidney followed his advice and was hired. Over the subsequent 21 years, he increased the foundation's assets from $6 million to $36 million and made the foundation a major source of funds for Philadelphia-area charities. The Philadelphia Foundation has chosen to honor Mr. Repplier by instituting a philanthropic option called The Repplier Society. Sid also volunteered for many diverse organizations, among them the Norristown State Hospital, the Prison Visiting Project of Episcopal Community Services and Community Relations Council of American Friends Service. By doing so he exemplified and carried on the long tradition of his Neall and Repplier forefathers who were known for their works of charity and philanthropy. He died on September 7, 1993. Sid is remembered by all who knew him as an extremely kind-hearted and humble man.