Phyllys Fleming, 89, of Chestnut Hill, formerly of Blue Bell and Lafayette Hill, a longtime community leader and volunteer died March 12 at The Hill at Whitemarsh, where she had been a resident since 2007.
Mrs. Fleming had served on the board of many Philadelphia nonprofit institutions. She had been a board member of the Chestnut Hill Community Association from 1967 to 1970, and had served on its Teenage Board, the North Philadelphia Pipeline, and Education, Human Relations and Mental Health committees.
She had long been active at the Philadelphia Museum of Art, where she was instrumental in starting the Philadelphia Craft Show in the late 1970s. She also had been chair of the museum’s Art Sales and Rental Gallery and Membership Committee and co-chair of the annual meeting of the American Association of Museums in 1980.
In recent years, she had been a board member of Chestnut Hill Academy, Teenagers Inc., and the Fleischer Art Memorial. Earlier she had been a volunteer at the Chestnut Hill Hospital’s Main Street Fair, where she worked at the flea market and antique and toy booths.
She had been a board member and vice president of the Homemaker Service of the Metropolitan Area and chair of its Policy and Social Services Review committees. She also had served on the board of the Family Service Association and on its Professional Services Committee.
She was a board member of the American Poetry Center.
Born in Oyster Bay, Long Island, and raised in Manhattan, she attended the Madeira School and Vassar College and received a bachelor of fine arts degree from the University of the Arts. She worked for a time as a designer for Elizabeth Draper Inc. in New York.
She was an avid painter, and art was one of her passions.
She is survived by sons Christopher, John, Peter and Thomas Fleming; and nine grandchildren. Mrs. Fleming’s husband, Thomas Fleming, died in 2008.
A memorial service will be held at noon Saturday, April 14, at the Chestnut Hill Quaker Meeting House on Mermaid Lane, followed by a celebration of her life at the Philadelphia Cricket Club, 415 West Willow Grove Ave, in Chestnut Hill. Contributions in her memory can be made to the Fleisher Art Memorial, 719 Catherine St., Philadelphia, PA 19147. – WF
