Shaun O'Malley, 79, accounting firm executive

Shaun F. O'Malley, 79, of Chestnut Hill, a former executive with the accounting firm Price Waterhouse, died Wednesday, Feb. 25, of metastatic melanoma at home.

Mr. O'Malley joined Price Waterhouse in June 1959 and stayed there until retiring in June 1995. He was hired by the firm's Philadelphia office and maintained ties there throughout his career.

He worked for Price Waterhouse in Japan, and in the company's New York office in the early 1970s and from 1988 until 1995. He was named a partner in 1973 and was elected chairman and senior partner in 1988.

(Price Waterhouse no longer exists. It is PwC, formed in 1998 by a merger between Price Waterhouse and Coopers & Lybrand.)

A respected businessman, Mr. O'Malley sat on the boards of the Federal Home Loan Mortgage Corp. (Freddie Mac), Monell Chemical Senses Center, Horace Mann Educators Corp., Philadelphia Insurance Cos., Philadelphia Contributionship, Philadelphia Belt Line Railroad Co., and Finance Co. of Pennsylvania.

A devout Catholic, he served on the Archdiocese of Philadelphia's Finance Committee.

The fifth of eight children born to Inez Fitzpatrick O'Malley and W. Gresham O'Malley Jr., Mr. O'Malley graduated from Waldron Mercy Academy in 1948 and from the Canterbury School in New Milford, Conn., in 1952.

He served in the Army Ordnance Corps in Mainz, Germany, in 1953 and 1954, and attended college on the GI Bill.

He earned a bachelor's degree in accounting from the University of Pennsylvania Wharton School of Business in 1959. At Penn, he was president of Zeta Psi and was active in the Penn Players.

He married Sibyl Julia O'Malley in 1965. The marriage ended in divorce. She died in 2010.

In his leisure time, Mr. O'Malley enjoyed reading and spending time in Avalon, N.J., with his family.

"He was a fearsome competitor in any game or competition," his family said in a written remembrance. That applied to softball, tennis, and, later, Boggle, which he played with his grandchildren.

He enjoyed classical music and was a longtime subscriber to the Philadelphia Orchestra.

He was a member of many social clubs, including the Philadelphia Club, Rabbit, Philadelphia Cricket Club, and Sunnybrook Golf Club.

Surviving are his second wife, Lyn Buchheit; a son, Brendan H. O'Malley; daughters Sibyl H. O'Malley and Aine O'Malley Pappas; a stepdaughter, Megan K. McNamara; five grandchildren; two brothers; and two sisters.

A memorial service will be held at 1 p.m. Saturday, April 25, at Our Mother of Consolation Roman Catholic Church, 17 E. Chestnut Hill Ave., Philadelphia. Burial was private.

Donations may be made to the Curtis Institute of Music, 1726 Locust St., Philadelphia 19103.