Lawrence S. Phillips ’48

Portrait
Image
Body

A native New Yorker, Larry was born March 20, 1927, and died Sept. 11, 2015, at his home in Boca Raton, Fla. He was 88.

Larry attended Horace Mann School and the Lawrenceville School. After Navy service, he majored in history at Princeton. Immediately after graduation in 1948, he joined the family clothing company, Phillips Van Heusen, and had a career of almost 50 years in all aspects of the business. Larry became chief executive in 1987.

He was widely known and honored as a philanthropist, especially as a founder and the president of American Jewish World Service, a worldwide agency with projects beyond exclusively Jewish causes. He was also a major supporter of the American Jewish Joint Distribution Committee, and founded the ambulatory care center at New York’s Beth Israel Hospital. After retirement, he stayed active in social-service and philanthropic causes.

Larry is survived by his children, David and Laura; sister Carol Green; his former wife and mother of their children, Ann Phillips; his former wife, Roxane Lipton; and four grandchildren.

No responses yet

Join the conversation

Plain text

Full name and Princeton affiliation (if applicable) are required for all published comments. For more information, view our commenting policy. Responses are limited to 500 words for online and 250 words for print consideration.

Paw in print

Image
The January 2026 cover of PAW, featuring a man and a woman and the headline "Empower Couple."
The Latest Issue

January 2026

Giving big with Kwanza Jones ’93 and José E. Feliciano ’94; Elizabeth Tsurkov freed; small town wonderers.