Henry Meil

Henry Robert (Hank) Meil passed away in Silver Spring, Maryland, on January 25, 2023 after a brief illness.  He was 90 years old.

Hank was born in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, on December 22, 1932, to William Meil and Florence (nee Miller) Meil.  His father owned an art supply store, Meil's, where Hank worked while he attended West Philadelphia High School and the University of Pennsylvania's Wharton School of Business.  

At Penn, he earned a Bacherlor's degree in Economics, with a major in Marketing, in 1954.  He later received his M.B.A. in Marketing from Temple University's School of Business Administration (Philadelphia, PA), in 1964.

After graduation, Hank joined the U.S. Army, where he served as postal clerk and rose to Adjutant General, Postal Services, in Japan during the Korean War.  He returned to the U.S. in 1957, and received his Honorable Discharge in 1961.  

After his return from the Army, he joined the RCA Corporation in Camden, New Jersey, as a market analyst. In 1959, he married the former Barbara Goodhart.  The couple moved to Indianapolis, Indiana, where Hank worked at RCA's sales office as an administrator of market research surveys and Barbara worked as an elementary school teacher.  They returned to Pennsylvania in 1962, where Hank took market research jobs at Rudd-Melikan, Inc. and Marketing Science Institute before rejoining RCA in its Parts and Accessories department, Deptford, New Jersey. There, he served as Manager, Market Research, from 1965-1978, and then as Manager of Consumer Services Marketing Research in Cherry Hill, NJ until 1987.

While still at RCA, Hank began teaching marketing courses at Temple University's Fox School of Business and Management in Philadelphia and later in Ambler, PA. He received a Dean's Appointment (1996-2002), and continued as an adjunct instructor until retiring in 2006.

Other professional activities included serving as a member and later Board member of the Philadelphia Chapter of the American Marketing Association, advisor to the Temple University student chapter of the same, and member and Education Committee Chairman of the Philadelphia Direct Marketing Association. He also served on the board of Philadelphia's Conservation Center for Art and Historic Artifacts.

His retirement included volunteer work as a consultant to SCORE (Senior Corps of Retired Executives), helping would-be entrepreneurs find the best roads to success for their proposed ventures and assisting them in preparing business plans.  

In his free time, Henry enjoyed gardening, cultivating flowers and vegetables, and tending to a lawn admired by many in his Elkins Park, PA neighborhood. For a brief time, he also made wine in his basement.  He also was a devotee of classical music, and with Barbara and close friends, attended many performances of the Philadelphia Orchestra and opera simulcasts.  

The Meils, married for 60 years, enjoyed traveling throughout Europe, Canada, and Mexico, and for years attended the Shaw Theatre Festival in Niagara-on-the-Lake, Ontario, Canada.  Barbara Meil passed away of complications related to breast cancer in 2019.   During that year, Hank moved to Silver Spring, MD, first to independent living in Riderwood Village, and in 2021 to assisted living in Arbor Ridge, both near his daughter's family and other family members in the Washington, DC area.

Hank's survivors include sister Janice Shull (Bernard), daughter Joanne Berger (Robert), son William Meil (Cari), and four grandchildren, Eliana Berger, Sam Meil, Jorie Meil, and Amy Berger.

A graveside funeral service was held January 29, in Jenkintown, PA. In lieu of flowers, donations may be made in Hank's memory to the Abramson Cancer Center, www.pennmedicine.org/cancer; or to the American Cancer Society, www.cancer.org.