Herb Phillips

News Obituary Article

DUNWOODY: Herb Phillips, financial executive

By J.E. GESHWILER

Over a 41-year career at Equifax, Herb Phillips rose from part-time credit investigator to the company's chief financial officer and a member of its board of directors.

Along the way he became a leading figure among finance executives around the globe, and in 1991-92 chaired the International Financial Executives Institute, a 24,000-member organization in more than 20 countries.

"Herb was an effective chairman," said an IFEI colleague, Norman Roy of Weston, Mass. "He arranged meetings with important standard-setting bodies such as the Securities and Exchange Commission and professional accounting societies that have led to an ongoing dialogue between them and our organization."

The memorial service for Herbert A. Phillips, 74, of Dunwoody is 11 a.m. Monday at St. Luke's Presbyterian Church. He died of heart failure Friday at Sarasota (Fla.) Memorial Hospital. The body was cremated. Toale Brothers Funeral Home of Sarasota is in charge of arrangements.

Mr. Phillips applied his financial acumen to volunteer work for St. Luke's, the Atlanta Presbytery and to his community associations in Dunwoody and Florida.

"Dad liked numbers all right, but what he really liked was putting them to good use for the institutions he served," said his daughter, Tamara Meng of Dunwoody. "He was deeply disturbed by the rash of Enron-type scandals and the betrayal of trust of the corporate financial officers involved."

Mr. Phillips loved travel, often visiting Europe and East Asia on IFEI business. He also journeyed up the Amazon twice and took his family on trips to England, Alaska, Canada and Central America.

Survivors include his wife, Betty Phillips; a brother, Ramon Phillips of Fort Worth, Texas; and two granddaughters.

© 2003 The Atlanta Journal-Constitution