February 24, 1931 - May 11, 2015

A corporate lawyer who had an enduring passion for and impact on the city of his birth, passed away today. Mickey Feldman was a life-long Philadelphian born on February 24th, 1931 to Israel C and Miriam Ruth Feldman and raised in the West Oak Lane section of the city. After graduating from Cheltenham High School, Feldman attended the University of Pennsylvania and received his BS in Economics from Wharton in 1952. He returned to Penn to study law. In 1955 he received his LLB from the University of Pennsylvania Law School and then served in U.S. Army Intelligence with time in Korea.

On his return from military service, Mr. Feldman joined the Philadelphia law firm of Sterling, Magaziner, Stern and Levy as an associate in 1957. He worked for various law firms throughout his career including serving as Of Counsel to Clark, Ladner, Fortenbaugh & Young for decades. He retired from Dilworth Paxson in 2006. His law practice focused on finance, corporate, and real estate law across the country. In one of his most high profile cases, he was the lead attorney for the unsecured creditors in the Drexel Burnham bankruptcy case.

His passion for Penn and education continued beyond his graduation. He would go on to spend 19 years as an Overseer of the Graduate School of Education (GSE) at the University of Pennsylvania (1990-2009). As one of the longest serving Overseers, he was focused on developing Penn's international ties and was the lead Overseer who helped get the Six Nation Research Project (1995-2006) started to help formally link the idea that education policy has a direct impact on the economies of nations. The program brought policy makers including the U.S. Secretary of Education and Ministers of Education of five other countries and researchers together to better understand the programs in educational transformation that led to economic growth. Mr. Feldman traveled to China, Japan and Singapore on behalf of GSE to help encourage the start of this program that in addition to China, Japan and Singapore included Germany and Switzerland (and the United States). He also served as his 1952 Class President since 2006.

In addition to his role at Penn, he was Chairman of Operation Alphabet from 1960-65 and was very proud of Operation Alphabet which served to combat adult illiteracy through a series of over 190 TV programs designed to help adults learn to read. It was broadcast on WFIL-TV in Philadelphia from the 1960s into the early 1980s and was syndicated nationally.

In the early 1990s, his passion for the City of Philadelphia on full display when he founded and served as Chairman of the non-partisan Philadelphians for Good Government, a group of business, civic and religious leaders who were concerned with where the city was headed and hoped to give a new major the platform and road map to help Philadelphia recover. The group produced a major public study and survey on the priorities which the citizens of Philadelphia thought their leadership should be focused on. Shortly thereafter, the City of Philadelphia started moving forward.

He also had leadership roles at Chestnut Hill Hospital where he served for decades as a trustee and then emeritus trustee. At Union League of Philadelphia, he served as Chairman of the Admissions Committee and President of the Benson Table. In the late 80s and early 90s, he worked with then- Eisenhower Fellowship President Theodore Friend to help raise awareness and support from corporate America for this globally important Philadelphia-based Program. He also was a member of the Executive Committee of the Philadelphia Committee on Foreign Relations and was Special Gifts Chairman and a Director at the American Cancer Society's Philadelphia division as well as a Director of Planned Parenthood Southeastern Pennsylvania. In addition, he was a long-time member of the Sunday Breakfast Club and the Philadelphia Cricket Club.

He also spent almost three decades on the Republican State Finance Committee's Executive Committee where he helped elect a succession of Republican Governors and U.S. Senators - starting with his involvement as a senior advisor to Bill Scranton's successful run in 1962 for Governor the State of Pennsylvania.

He is survived by his wife of over 50 years Charlotte of Philadelphia, son Alexander, daughter in-law Emily and granddaughter Mia all of Washington, DC. His son Alex followed his lead into Republican politics and served in the Administrations of George H.W. Bush and George W. Bush rising to the rank of Assistant Secretary of State under General Colin Powell. His brother Stuart first proposed and helped start the National Constitution Center on Independence Mall and sat on the National Constitution Center board of directors for 17 years prior to his death in 2010.