Christopher Rittenhouse Bentley

Bentley 1962~2021 Christopher Rittenhouse Bentley, age 59 of Philadelphia passed away on August 6, 2021, after a five-month battle with Acute Myeloid Leukemia. A creative man of many talents and keen intellect, Chris made every space he inhabited more beautiful and every gathering more interesting. He was a professional photographer and portraitist, a licensed real estate agent and full-time father. He was passionate about the outdoors, and interiors, a nature advocate, arborist, artist, chef and gardener extraordinaire. He was adroit with tools large and small and composed fine impressionist paintings with a brush and oils. A voracious reader, he loved to hold forth about history, current events and progressive politics. Chris and his devoted wife Wendy loved to cook and collect art and design their gardens and habitats. They own homes in Philadelphia's Mt. Airy neighborhood and in Cedarville, Michigan on Lake Huron, where he loved to sail. His family and countless friends loved Chris's outsized personality, sense of humor, graciousness, generosity and style. Chris graduated from the Maine Photographic Workshop, earned a BA in political science at the University of Vermont, where he was the photo editor of the student newspaper, the Vermont Cynic, and attended the Lawrenceville School in New Jersey. He was a member of the Les Cheneaux Yacht Club in Michigan and was on the boards of Friends of the Wissahickon and Rittenhouse Town in Philadelphia. Survived by his wife of 31 years, Wendy Wurtzburger Bentley; his cherished children Charles Bentley of Brooklyn NY, and Reuben Bentley of Philadelphia PA; his dear brother Alden C. Bentley of Bloomfield NJ; dear nephew of John and Helene Bentley of Cincinnati, OH and Barbara Rawls of Villanova, PA. Predeceased by his beloved parents Alice Rawls Bentley and Capt. Paul Cody Bentley of Bucks County, PA. Services and Interment are private. In lieu of flowers if you would like to make a donation in Christopher's name: Friends of the Wissahickon at https://fow.org/membership-donations/donate/ Leukemia research at the Abramson Cancer Center can be made at https://pennmedicine.org/giving or with checks made payable to the "Trustees of the University of Pennsylvania" and mailed to Penn Medicine Development at 3535 Market Street, Suite 750, Philadelphia, PA 19104. Please include Christopher's name in the memo line.