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Joseph C. Ladd, 87, an insurance executive and Philadelphia business leader, died at home on Wednesday, June 18. Born in Chicago, Mr. Ladd was adopted by Stephen C. Ladd and Laura McBride Ladd of Elgin, Illinois, after spending the first six months of his life as a ward of the Illinois Children's Home and Aid Society, a social agency that is now a United Way member agency in Chicago. A World War II veteran, he graduated high school early so that he could enlist in the United States Navy in 1944 when he was 17-years old. Among his Navy stations were the Submarine Base at Portsmouth, New Hampshire, and the Submarine Base at Subic Bay in the Philippine Islands. Upon being honorably discharged in 1946, he attended Ohio Wesleyan University where he graduated in 1950 with a bachelor's degree. He also holds a C.L.U. from The American College. Mr. Ladd's service in the insurance business started with the Connecticut General Life Insurance Company. He served as an Agent; Manager of the Evanston, Illinois branch; Director of Agencies; and as Manager of the firm's Los Angeles branch. He later moved to Fidelity Mutual Life Insurance Company where he became President and Chief Executive Officer in 1971. He was elected Chairman of the Board in 1984 and served until his retirement in 1989. Mr. Ladd also held several Directorships. He served on the board of the Greater Philadelphia Chamber of Commerce and was the first person in over 200 years to be elected Chairman twice - first in 1980 and again in 1984. Other Directorships included CoreStates, the Philadelphia Electric Company, the Philadelphia Suburban Corporation and the Rorer Group. A man who valued civic involvement, Mr. Ladd served on the boards of the Bryn Mawr Hospital, the Greater Philadelphia First Corporation, the Philadelphia Museum of Art, Children's Hospital of Philadelphia, Main Line Health, the YMCA of Philadelphia and vicinity, the Life Office Management Association and the United Way of Southeastern Pennsylvania, Philadelphia Development Company, the Greater Philadelphia Partnership, the American Council of Life Insurance, the Advisory Council of Eastern College, the American College and Beaver College. Perhaps most personal to Mr. Ladd, was his service as the General Chairman of the United Way's 1978 campaign. Aside from his first contact with the United Way as a ward of the Illinois Children's Home, he participated in Boys Scouts and the YMCA until he was 15. He also recalled his contact with the USO and the Red Cross when he was in the Navy at the end of World War II in an emotional speech to over 1,000 campaign volunteers and civic and business leaders at the campaign's closing dinner. That year the campaign surpassed its fundraising goal for the first time in six years. In 1986, Mr. Ladd was honored by the Greater Philadelphia Chamber of Commerce and PenJerDel by being the recipient of the William Penn Award. Other awards and honors include the YMCA's Man of the Year in 1979 and, in 1980, he was named a Distinguished Pennsylvanian by the William Penn Foundation. He received the Robert Morris Citizenship Award from the Valley Forge Council - Boy Scouts of America in 1988 and the John Wannamaker Award from the Pennsylvania Council of the Blind in 1989. In 1978, he was awarded the Civic Achievement Award by the American Jewish Committee and the Achiever's Award by Wheels Medical Transportation Foundation. In 1982, his college fraternity, Delta Tau Delta, gave him their Life Achievement award and in 1985 he received an Honorary Doctor of Business Administration degree from Spring Garden College. Mr. Ladd was a member of the Philadelphia Country Club and the Amelia Island Plantation Club. He married Barbara Virginia Carter in 1965. The couple celebrated their 49th wedding anniversary on June 5th. In addition to his wife, Mr. Ladd is survived by son Joseph C. Ladd; daughters Barbara J. Ladd and Virginia C. Ladd; and eight grandchildren. He was predeceased by daughter Carroll Ladd Smith and son William F. Ladd. A celebration of his life will be held [was held] at the Church of the Redeemer, 234 Pennswood Rd., Bryn Mawr, at 3 p.m. Saturday, June 21. Donations may be made to The Bryn Mawr Hospital Foundation, in memory of Joseph C. Ladd, 130 South Bryn Mawr Ave., Bryn Mawr, PA 19010.

Tributes

Joseph Carroll Ladd

January 26, 1927 - June 18, 2014