Harry Phillips III, an affable insurance executive who became chairman of the board of Westchester Community College before representing the Lower Hudson Valley on the state Board of Regents for 15 years, saying he liked the "responsibility of doing important work," has died at 97.
"I've been lucky my whole life," he told The Journal News/lohud during a 2013 interview.
He died on Aug. 2 at Kendal on Hudson, a retirement community in Sleepy Hollow, after a brief illness, his family said.
Philips, a former longtime Greenburgh resident, was appointed a trustee of WCC in 1989 and was elected chair in 1995. After he left the board, he remained active with the Westchester Community College Foundation and WCC's Collegium for Lifelong Learning, a study program for seniors.
In 2000, Philips was chosen by the state Legislature to represent the 9th Judicial District — Westchester, Rockland, Putnam, Dutchess and Orange — on the Board of Regents, which sets statewide education policy and oversees most licensed professions. He served three, five-year terms, and was a frequent, enthusiastic visitor to schools across the region, before stepping aside at the age of 88.
"My father was a remarkable man," his daughter, Elizabeth, said. "He cared deeply about doing what was right and making the world a better place. He and my mother both had those values. He genuinely wanted to do what he could. From the time I was very young, I remember him becoming involved in so many causes.
"He was so proud of everything Westchester Community College was doing, providing a high quality education for so many people. He loved our schools."
A celebration of Phillips' life will take place at 2 p.m. on Saturday, Sept. 7 at WCC.
Lester Young Jr., chancellor of the Board of Regents, called Phillips a "champion of equity and fairness, always driven by a deep commitment to what was best for the students and educators of New York State.
"His legacy on the Board is marked by significant achievements that expanded educational opportunities and enriched the lives of countless students. He had a remarkable ability to listen, understand, and address the needs of students, teachers, and parents, making a lasting impact that will be remembered for years to come."
Phillips a congenial man with 'steel spine'
Phillips was nominated to the Board of Regents by the late Assemblyman Richard Brodsky, who said that Phillips had a "steel spine" and would stand up to interest groups while doing what was best for students.
Phillips served on the board during the tumultuous early 2010s, when New York adopted a series of corporate-minded education reforms that would be opposed by many teachers and parents. Phillips was among the few Regents who opposed the state's focus on standardized test scores and rigid teacher evaluations.
Despite his easy-going, congenial nature, he referred to himself as a "dissident."
"Corporations came up with this idea that accountability is everything," he told The Journal News/lohud.
In a 2015 op-ed, he regretted New York's accepting of $700 in federal "Race to the Top" funds in exchange for agreeing to implement a series of education reforms. "We should never have signed," he wrote. He said he perceived testing requirements for students with disabilities and English language learners as "cruelty to children."
He supported New York's adoption of the Common Core learning standards, but said they were rushed into place.
An early supporter of school integration in Greenburgh
Phillips was born on Sept. 11, 1926, in New York City. He grew up in Long Island's "Five Towns" and graduated from Harvard College. He told The Journal News/lohud that he joined the Army at 18 and got to Germany three weeks before the end of World War II. "Germans were surrendering to me everywhere I went," he said.
Phillips married Marjorie Hertzberg in 1948 and they raised their three children, Elizabeth, Robert and William, in the Hartsdale hamlet of Greenburgh. Robert died in 2019.
As a parent, Phillips was a strong supporter of the then-Greenburgh School District 8, which in 1950 sought to integrate its schools, four years before the Brown vs. Board of Education Supreme Court decision.
Professionally, Phillips jointed the Penn Mutual Life Insurance company in 1948. He and his brother Roger founded H&R Phillips, Inc. in 1964 as a combined property, casualty and life insurance brokerage firm, later adding group insurance and pension planning. Phillips wrote a book about employee benefits planning and served as a president of the Association of Advanced Life Underwriting.
Phillips was an avid tennis player into his 90s and a member of the County Tennis Club of Westchester in Scarsdale for over 60 years. He also played golf until last year, getting his first hole-in-one at the age of 89.
During lunch with a reporter when he was 90, Phillips had an Italian combo sub and orange soda. Told that he ate like a teenager, Phillips smiled and said "I feel like one."
He is survived by his wife; his children Liz and Bill; eight grandchildren; and 11 great-grandchildren.
