Lewis H. Van Dusen Jr., born with silver spoon

[marilyn...@aol.com]

By Gayle Ronan Sims
Inquirer Staff Writer

Lewis H. Van Dusen Jr., 93, a quintessential blue-blood, old-school
Philadelphia lawyer who held civic duty as part of his birthright, died
Tuesday of congestive heart failure. A longtime resident of Bala
Cynwyd, Mr. Van Dusen had been at Cathedral Village nursing home since
January.

Mr. Van Dusen joined Drinker, Biddle & Reath straight out of law school
and spent his career at the prestigious firm, working until early this
year.

"While Lew will only be remembered by a minority of lawyers and staff
currently at Drinker, we all owe this larger-than-life lawyer a debt of
gratitude," said James Sweet, Drinker Biddle's chairman. "He taught all
of us that dedication to the client's cause was our watchword...
practicing law was not only a great privilege, but a 24-hour-a-day
undertaking."

Sweet said Mr. Van Dusen ran the Center City firm from the mid-1950s
until the mid-1980s.

Mr. Van Dusen's son Duncan called his father a dynamo, saying, "He was
a lawyer 24 hours a day."

The great-grandson of a shipbuilder, the grandson of a coal and banking
magnate, and the son of a judge, Mr. Van Dusen was born in Overbrook
with a silver spoon firmly in place.

He attended Episcopal Academy and prepped at St. Paul's School in
Concord, N.H. From there, he went to Princeton University, where he
graduated at the top of his class in 1932 with a bachelor's degree in
political science and was on the varsity track and rugby teams. His
commencement address was presented in classical Greek.

After a year at Harvard, he was selected as a Rhodes Scholar. He earned
a law degree from Oxford University in 1935, again at the top of his
class.

Before leaving England, he proposed to Maria Pepper Whelan.

The couple married in Philadelphia and settled in Bala Cynwyd in 1935,
the same year he joined Drinker Biddle.

Mr. Van Dusen's law career was interrupted by World War II. He enlisted
in the Army and saw action in Europe and North Africa from 1942 to
1945. He rose to lieutenant colonel and returned to Philadelphia with a
Purple Heart and a Bronze Star.

In 1950, the Department of State called him into service as the
assistant deputy to the U.S. representative to NATO, a post in which he
helped negotiate civilian and military treaties.

He again returned to Drinker Biddle after two years, and resumed his
works of noblesse oblige. He was on the boards of the Greater
Philadelphia Movement and the Academy of Natural Sciences; a trustee of
Princeton University and Episcopal Academy; chairman of the men's
advisory board for 35 years at Inglis House; and a member of the
American Philosophical Society.

Mr. Van Dusen also served as chancellor of the Philadelphia Bar
Association in 1967; as special counsel for SEPTA in 1966; as president
of the Pennsylvania Bar Association; and on the standing committees on
professional ethics of the American Bar Association and of the
Philadelphia County Board of Law Examiners.

And he regularly played tennis until he was 84.

In the 1960s, Mr. Van Dusen bought a farm in Pottstown to enjoy with
his grandchildren. "He built a pond there so he could ice skate," his
daughter, Sally Johnson, said. "He relaxed and there were no phones."

After the death of his wife in 1994, Mr. Van Dusen married Ruth Patrick
Hodge in 1995.

Mr. Van Dusen is also survived by another son, Michael; 12
grandchildren; five great-grandchildren; and a sister. His son Lewis
III died in 1993.

A funeral will be held at 11 a.m. tomorrow at Church of St. Asaph,
Conshohocken State Road and St. Asaph's Road, Bala Cynwyd. Burial will
be in the church cemetery.

Memorial donations may be made to the Princeton Van Dusen Family
Scholarship Fund, Princeton University, Box 5357, Princeton, N.J.
08544-5357.