Mr. Pincus was fond of basset hounds, stiff martinis, athletics and monumental acts of generosity.
He said his life was changed after he traveled to Ethiopia in 1984 during a famine and a starving child died in his arms. He journeyed each year to a nation in turmoil to bear witness - Sudan, Mozambique, Haiti, Liberia, South Africa.
"Rather than trying to save Darfur, his primary mission is putting a smile on the face of children, even if it is in their dying moment," Rabbi Neil S. Cooper, the head of Temple Beth Hillel Beth-El in Wynnewood, said in a 2009 interview for an Inquirer profile on Mr. Pincus.
In his role as "Uncle David," his visits with relief agencies to refugee camps were spectacles. In a 1999 stop at a camp of Sierra Leoneans, he showered children with sweets, toys and Snoopy dolls, whipping them up into squeals of delight.
"Those things are so joyous for me," he said afterward. "I love it. The rewards are so enormous for me."
In recent years, his philanthropy was more focused on local efforts such as playgrounds, hospitals and schools. In 2008, he created the David N. Pincus Global Health Fellowship Program at Children's Hospital of Philadelphia that sends pediatricians to Africa and the Dominican Republic.
Mr. Pincus often acted impulsively. After reading about a Bosnian boy in 1994 who was injured by sniper fire in Sarajevo, he arranged to airlift the teen to Paris for treatment.
During a lifetime of civic involvement, Mr. Pincus served on many governing boards: Philadelphia University, Care International, the American Jewish World Service, and the International Rescue Committee, to name a few.
Among his favorites was the Philadelphia Museum of Art, where he headed the 20th Century Committee and was a trustee for more than 35 years.
