Willard S. Boothby Jr., investment banker

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OBITPIX_Boothby

Willard S. Boothby Jr., 92, formerly of Chestnut Hill, an investment banker and community leader who had served for more than three decades in a variety of positions at what was then the firm of Blyth Eastman Dillon, died March 22 in Hobe Sound, Fla.

When he retired in 1980, he was the firm's managing director. Earlier he had been chairman and president and CEO of the firm.

Mr. Boothby joined Eastman Dillon in Philadelphia in 1950 and four years later became a resident partner. Moving to the firm's New York office in 1964, he became chief operating partner in 1968 and chief executive partner in 1970.

He had served as chairman of the Regional Committee, Investment Bankers Association of America and of the Regional Nominating Committee of the New York Stock Exchange.

He was president of the Bond Clubs of New York and Philadelphia, and was a member of the Board of Governors of the Association of Stock Exchange Firms. He also had been chairman, a member of the Governing Council and director of the executive committee of the Securities Industry Association.

Mr. Boothby had served on numerous civic and corporate boards. In the Philadelphia area he had been president of the Academy of Music and was a member of the executive committee and the board of the Philadelphia Orchestra.

He also had been chairman of the Committee of Seventy, the World Affairs Council of Philadelphia and the Century IV Committee. He was a member of the board at Morris Arboretum, the Children's Hospital of Philadelphia, the executive committee of the Penn's Landing Corp., and the Fairmount Park Council for Historical Sites.

He was a trustee of Pine Manor College, Springside School, the Episcopal Hospital of Philadelphia, and the Academy of Natural Sciences, and was a board member at the William Penn Charter School, of which he was a graduate.

He attended Cornell University and received a bachelor's degree in Engineering from Lehigh University. He also did graduate work in finance and commerce at the University of Pennsylvania's Wharton School.

Mr. Boothby was a former president of the Jupiter Island Club, and was a member of the Philadelphia Cricket Club, the Philadelphia Club, the Racquet Club, Sunnybrook Golf Club, Gulph Mills Club, the Links and River clubs of New York, the Augusta National Golf Club, the Kittansett Club and the Coral Beach Club.

He is survived by his wife, the former Florence Clifford; sons Willard Sands Boothby III and Richard Cheney Boothby; a daughter, Ann Boothby LeBreton; eight grandchildren, and three great-grandchildren.

A memorial service will be held at 11:30 Saturday, May 17, at St. Paul's Episcopal Church, 22 East Chestnut Hill Ave. in Chestnut Hill. Memorial donations may be made to the Academy of Music Restoration Fund, One South Broad St., 14th floor, Philadelphia, Pa 19107. – WF

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