EDWARD EVERETT "TED" PHILLIPS

Edward "Ted" Everett Phillips, III, of Weston, MA, died on January 18, 2024, at the age of 96. Ted attended Columbia High School in Maplewood, NJ and graduated from Carteret School in West Orange, NJ. Ted enlisted in the U.S. Marine Corps in 1946. Following his service aboard USS Pocono, he graduated from Amherst College and Harvard Law School. He was a practicing attorney from 1955-1969 and was a Brookings Institution Public Affairs Fellow in Washington, D.C. from 1967-1968. Ted moved from the law department at John Hancock Life Insurance Company to New England Mutual Life Insurance Company in 1969. Ted joined the company in 1969 as Secretary, was elected Executive VP in 1972, President in 1974 and Chairman in 1978. During his administration, the company modernized its data processing systems, introduced non-smoker policies, encouraged agents to become Certified Financial Planners, and elected the company's first three women to the Board of Directors. Ted was an active member of the Boston business community, including serving as Chair of the Massachusetts Taxpayers Foundation, Massachusetts Business Roundtable, New England Conservatory of Music, Massachusetts Bay United Way, as a Member of the State Board of Education and the State Council on the Arts and Humanities, and as a past Director of Affiliated Publications. He was the recipient of several Honorary Degrees, including Northeastern University, Brandeis University, and the University of Massachusetts Boston, as well as a number of honors, including the Ralph Lowell Distinguished Citizen Award and the Harvard Business School Association of Boston Business Statesman of the Year. Ted was perhaps best known for his leadership in the mid-1980s, in celebration of the 150th anniversary of the founding of New England Life, in greatly expanding business community support of the ACCESS program, with over 50 major firms contributing. ACCESS, established originally by the Bank of Boston, now operated under the Boston Foundation, provides "last-dollar' college scholarships to Boston Public School students, as well as funding school counselors to help college applicants apply for government grants, such as Pell Grants, and private sector scholarships. On the national level, Ted served as Director of New England Telephone, NYNEX, United Way of America, Butler Aviation, and the Educational Testing Service of Princeton NJ, as Chair of the American Council of Life Insurance, and as a Life Trustee of Amherst College. He was a member of the Megantic Fish and Game Club, The Country Club, and The Algonquin Club. The family spent many summers on Nantucket, where he was a member of the Nantucket Golf Club and Nantucket Yacht Club. An avid fisherman, Ted was the happiest on the water - whether it was a pond in Maine, a river in Iceland, or aboard the Avatar on Nantucket sound. Ted was married to the former Margaret Bachelder Whitney of Weston, MA from 1952 until her death in 2015. He is survived by their three children, five grandchildren, and one great-grandchild: John Whitney Phillips, married to the former Emily Wolfe, of Croton-on Hudson NY, who have two children, Everett Wolfe Phillips, his wife Alexa Lindauer and their son Silas, and Wesley Branch Phillips; Margaret J. Phillips of VT; and Nancy Phillips Lorenze, wife of Mark Lorenze, of Guilford CT, who have three children, Whitney Ann Lorenze, Paige Elizabeth Lorenze, and John "Jack" Edward Lorenze. A Memorial Service is planned for Saturday, April 20, 2024, at 2:00 PM, at St. Peter's Episcopal Church in Weston, MA. In lieu of flowers, contributions may be made to the Armour Craig Chair for Language and Literature at Amherst College or the ACCESS program at the Boston Foundation.

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