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Samuel Stillman, 95; operated Stillman's Memorial Chapel

By Sally A. Downey, Inquirer Staff Writer

Posted: March 11, 2011

Samuel Stillman, 95, who operated Stillman's Memorial Chapel on North Broad Street for 40 years, died Friday, March 4, at his home in Hollywood, Fla.

Mr. Stillman graduated from South Philadelphia High School and earned a bachelor's degree from the Philadelphia College of Pharmacy and Science, now University of the Sciences. He would have liked to have gone on to medical school, he told The Inquirer in 1997, but it was the Great Depression, and he needed a job, so he worked as a pharmacist.

His father, Harry, suggested he become an undertaker because it was more lucrative, said a son, Jedd. Taking that advice, Mr. Stillman graduated from Eckels School of Mortuary Science, and he and his wife, Rose Schwartz Stillman, opened a funeral parlor in their home on North Broad Street. They later moved to a larger location on Broad Street. His wife kept the books, and when their two sons were teenagers, they helped out.

After Joseph Levine & Son funeral home bought Stillman's Memorial Chapel in 1986, Mr. Stillman continued to assist with the business for a decade and stayed involved for an additional five years.

"We never had an argument or a cross word," said Joseph Levine, president of Joseph Levine & Son.

Mr. Stillman was a patron of Jewish organizations, including the National Museum of American Jewish History, and the American Friends of Magen David Adom, an emergency-response service in Israel. He was a former treasurer of the Hebrew Mutual Cemetery in Delaware County. He was a Mason and an avid reader of Jewish philosophy and history.

Though his Army service during World War II was brief because of a medical problem, Mr. Stillman served the military for years as a volunteer with the United Service Organizations. The nonprofit provides morale and recreational services to members of the U.S. military, with programs in 140 centers worldwide.

Through his involvement with the USO, Mr. Stillman was responsible for placing a Torah on a battleship for religious services for Jewish crew members, his son said.

In 1997, Mr. Stillman told an Inquirer reporter that he had traveled around the world three times. He was interviewed after purchasing the honorary title Lord of the Manor for Haccombe in South Devon, England.

One Englishman told The Inquirer that acquiring the title was like buying a vanity license plate. Another said the lord of the manor titles were "steeped in history" and "like works of art."

Mr. Stillman was a collector of antiques, furniture, and oddities, including a ceremonial headdress from a Blackfoot chief whose wife he buried, his son said.

Mr. Stillman and his wife raised three children in Mount Airy and then lived in Wynnewood. They had been married 61 years when she died in 1998. He moved to Florida in 2006.

In addition to his son Jedd, Mr. Stillman is survived by a son, Laurence; a daughter, Frances; five grandchildren; and five great-grandchildren.

A graveside service will be held at 11 a.m. Sunday, March 13, at Shalom Memorial Park, 101 Byberry Rd., Huntingdon Valley.

Contact staff writer Sally A. Downey at 215-854-2913 or sdowney@phillynews.com.