William H. "Billy the Beer King" Pflaumer, 76, last of the Philly beer barons owned Schmidt's brewery
Hoodoo
William H. Pflaumer, 76; owned Schmidt's brewery
By Walter F. Naedele
Inquirer Staff Writer
http://www.philly.com/inquirer/obituaries/20100526_William_H__Pflaumer__76__owned_Schmidt_s_brewery.html
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William H. Pflaumer in 1978 at his Christian Schmidt Brewing Co.,
between Second and Hancock Streets south of Girard. The brewery closed
in 1987. The site is now Piazza at Schmidts.
William H. Pflaumer, 76, the last of the local beer barons, died of
heart failure on Saturday, May 22, at Pennsylvania Hospital.
Mr. Pflaumer was a quintessential Philadelphia character widely known as
"Billy" or, more grandly, "Billy the Beer King."
The final owner of the brewery that produced Schmidt's - Philadelphia's
best-known beer - he was sentenced to federal prison in 1983 for evading
more than $125,000 in excise taxes.
The Christian Schmidt Brewing Co., between Second and Hancock Streets
south of Girard Avenue, was the city's last independent brewery and had
been a local institution since 1860. In the years since its closure, the
city has become home to numerous craft breweries that have revived the
city's long brewing tradition.
After Mr. Pflaumer went to prison in 1986, Schmidt's brands were sold to
G. Heileman Brewing Co. of LaCrosse, Wis., in 1987 and the brewery closed.
In January 2000, the vacant brewery complex was sold for $1.8 million to
developer Bart Blatstein, and razed.
Today, it is the site of the 28-acre Piazza at Schmidts, a retail,
restaurant, and apartment complex.
Beginning in 1959 with $7,000 and one truck, Mr. Pflaumer parlayed the
family beer distributorship into a business so large that he was able to
build a 227-acre estate in Cape May County known as Beer World, which
featured a 28-room mansion with guesthouses, a private swimming pool, a
lake, and a golf course.
Besides the brewery, which was the country's ninth-largest in 1980, Mr.
Pflaumer and his family controlled a large beer distributorship and a
beer trucking company, which allowed him to dominate the industry in
Southeastern Pennsylvania.
A 1980 Inquirer series reported that his various enterprises were
grossing an estimated $215 million annually.
At the time of his death, Mr. Pflaumer was living in the 1300 block of
North Mascher Street, next to the family beer distributorship. The
rowhouse block in Fishtown is not far from the site of his former brewery.
A son, Robert, said Mr. Pflaumer's principal residence until recently
had been on Fairfax Road off School Lane in Drexel Hill. For more than
20 years, it was storied for its display of Christmas decorations,
according to a 1989 Inquirer story.
Mr. Pflaumer's wife, Jeannette, had died in 1988, a day before her 55th
birthday, and he had spent most of 1986 and 1987 in prison. But in an
interview for that Christmastime story, Mr. Pflaumer said, "People don't
care about your petty problems. They enjoy the lights. They want to see
the lights."
Mr. Pflaumer grew up in North Philadelphia, where his father, also
William, was a beer distributor. Mr. Pflaumer joined the business after
graduating from Northeast High School.
In 1976, he bought Schmidt's for $15.9 million.
The Pennsylvania Liquor Control Board approved the purchase, ruling that
Mr. Pflaumer was "of good repute" in giving him a license, even though
he had a long history of legal troubles.
"He once illegally accepted $800,000 worth of free beer from a brewer
[and] gave bar owners false invoices so that they could skim extra
profits and make false tax deductions," an Inquirer series on the LCB
reported in 1980.
"He had on his payroll people whose backgrounds included ties to
organized crime and records as mob enforcers; one such employee had hit
another man in the face - with a hatchet."
The series also reported on federal charges that he had pasted forged
Schlitz, Piels, and Schaefer labels on kegs of Ballantine beer in the
course of winning the Ballantine distribution business from a rival company.
At the time of the LCB approval, Mr. Pflaumer had two federal
misdemeanor convictions for falsely labeling the Ballantine's and for
conspiring to evade taxes.
All that was before his 1983 federal sentencing to three years for tax
evasion.
Mr. Pflaumer was "a stocky man who prefers work clothes to suits, slicks
his dark hair back and habitually wears dark glasses because of a
congenital eye defect," The Inquirer reported in 1980.
Besides the brewery, with annual sales of $175 million on production of
3.8 million barrels, the newspaper said, Mr. Pflaumer "owns all stock in
K.M.A. Leasing (the initials stand for 'kiss my a-," according to court
records.) It is the biggest beer hauling firm in Pennsylvania; its
assets include 118 tractors and 175 trailers."
Besides those assets, the newspaper reported, Mr. Pflaumer "has built a
huge beer distributorship, William H. Pflaumer & Sons.
"The LCB prohibits interlocking businesses in the beer trade; the same
person cannot hold both a beer manufacturer's license and a
distributor's license.
"But the LCB allowed Pflaumer to keep his distributorship in the family
by turning over its stock to his wife, Jeanette, and his children,
through a trustee.
"Pflaumer is often present at his wife's distributorship; she is there
about two days a month."
After his jail time, the sale of his brewery, the death of wife, and the
sale of the mansion in Cape May County, that building - then the
Ponderlodge Mansion in state-owned Villas Wildlife Management Area - was
destroyed in an overnight blaze on Oct. 7, 2008. State investigators
ruled the blaze an arson.
Robert Pflaumer said his father had helped found Operation Pops, which
sent inner-city children to summer camps and supported Police Athletic
League programs.
"He aided untold numbers of families in need," his son said. "He didn't
take time out for himself. He was a workaholic."
Besides his son, Mr. Pflaumer is survived by sons Ronald and Fred,
daughters Barbara Samuelian and Jeanette Tierney, a brother, 13
grandchildren, and five great-grandchildren. His wife, Jeanette, died in
1988, and a son, William, died in 2006.
A visitation is scheduled for 9 a.m. Saturday, May 29, at the O'Leary
Funeral Home, 640 E. Springfield Rd., Springfield, Delaware County,
followed by an 11 a.m. funeral there. Burial will be in SS. Peter and
Paul Cemetery, Marple Township.
--
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> Wed, May. 26, 2010
>
> William H. Pflaumer, 76; owned Schmidt's brewery
>
> By Walter F. Naedele
Colorful guy. A real Philly character.