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It is with great sadness we announce the passing of David George
Phillips, Upper Providence Twp., on the evening of Saturday, May 12th
at Thomas Jefferson University Hospital in Philadelphia.
Born in Scranton on October 14th, 1947, he was the son of the late
Wilbur Russell and Frances England Phillips. He graduated from Central
High School in Scranton and earned a B.S. degree in Biology from the
Pennsylvania State University, where he played alto horn in the
marching Blue Band and French horn in the concert band. He was later
awarded his Master of Science and Doctor of Philosophy degrees in
Zoology from the University of New Hampshire, where he wrote his
doctoral dissertation, The Biology of the Predatory Calanoid Copepod
Tortanus Discaudatus (Thompson and Scott) in a New Hampshire Estuary
(1976).
In his teens, he was an avid camp counselor in the Boy Scouts at Goose
Pond Scout Reservation and achieved the rank of Eagle Scout. During
his time at UNH, he married Carol Evans, with whom he had four
children; the family moved to Collegeville when he began his teaching
career at Ursinus College. He later taught chemistry and biology at
Devon Preparatory School and eighth grade science for the Spring-Ford
Area School District, and served for several years as Chairman of the
Montgomery County Science Teachers Association. Dave coached youth
baseball and softball, and was a long-standing member of Augustus
Lutheran Church in Trappe, where he indulged his passion for music as
a stalwart member of the choir. In addition to music in general, he
loved campfire songs, woodworking, gardening, the 1000 Islands,
learning, learning, learning and funny stories. He disliked parents
who defended children who failed to do their homework, and
groundhogs.
In addition to the thousands of students whose lives he touched and
whom he motivated, he is survived by his brother, Russell Wilbur
Phillips, Bethesda, MD; his daughters, Karen Littlewood and her
husband, David, E. Coventry Twp., and Wendy Bauman and her husband,
Daniel, Spring City; his stepdaughter, Alexa Kozacheson and her
partner, Michael Lawyrsh, Philadelphia; and his sons, Mark Phillips
and his fiancée, Frances Mercanti-Anthony, Round Pond, ME, and Scott
Phillips and his partner, Peter Rosenbaum, Queens, NY. He is also
survived by six extraordinary grandchildren: Evan Phillips; Reese,
Quinn and Kelyn Littlewood; and Davis and Delaney Bauman. He was
preceded in death by his wife, Zita L. (Pavlik) Phillips.
All are invited to join a memorial service to celebrate his life,
which will be held at 11:00 a.m., Saturday, May 19th, at Augustus
Lutheran Church, 717 W. Main Street, Trappe, with the Rev. G. Warren
Weleck, Senior Pastor, officiating. Friends may call from 10:00 to
10:45 a.m., Saturday, at the church. In lieu of flowers, the family
asks that memorial contributions be made to Save the River/Upper
St. Lawrence Riverkeeper (http://www.savetheriver.org), 409 Riverside
Drive, Clayton, NY 13624 ((315) 686-2010) and/or the Juvenile Diabetes
Research Foundation (http://www.jdrf.org), 555 Croton Road, Suite 111,
King of Prussia, PA 19406 ((610) 664-9255). Arrangements are by
Holcombe Funeral Home, Inc., Trappe.
Published in The Mercury on May 15, 2018
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