Philip James Porter ’52

Following several years of declining health, Phil died of heart failure at Beth ISrael Deaconess Medical Center in Boston Feb. 16, 2005. His memorial service was in the Church of the Redeemer, where he had served twice on the vestry.

Bayard Henry '53 described Phil as a "revolutionary" for his conviction that all children, regardless of ability to pay, deserved adequate health care. Having trained at the University of Pennsylvania and Harvard medical schools, Phil identified the need and the vehicle for providing pediatric health care: using public schools, taking good medicine into the community, and staffing by nurse-practitioners and supervising pediatricians.

With a grant from the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation, Phil launched the Healthy Children Program, which established health centers in 24 high schools in 14 cities. In 1987 Phil received the William A. Howe Award, the highest honor bestowed by the American School Health Association. Loved and revered by family and friends, Phil was described by his wife, Sally, as a "pied piper" among children, especially his grandchildren, and a true gentleman.

He is survived by Sally; three children, Brooks, Cynthia '80, and Philip; and seven grandchildren. The class extends to them our deepest condolences.

The Class of 1952