Joseph K. Gordon, 90, lawyer and bank executive

Joseph K. Gordon, 90, a renowned Philadelphia lawyer and banking executive whose philanthropic prowess seemed to know no bounds, died of heart-related complications at Bryn Mawr Hospital on Oct. 5.

Mr. Gordon, of the Haverford section of Lower Merion Township and Palm City, Fla., was a graduate of Episcopal Academy, Princeton University, and the University of Pennsylvania Law School, as well as a veteran who served in the U.S. Navy during World War II.

Even more than for his professional accomplishments, Mr. Gordon is remembered for his integrity, work ethic - he rode the SEPTA Regional Rail to work at a Philadelphia law firm on his 90th birthday - and charitable endeavors.

"He was the kindest, gentlest, most intelligent, most charitable man I knew," said Leila Gordon, one of Mr. Gordon's two daughters.

"He just had that charitable sense," she said. "It was in the fabric of who he was."

"To me, obviously, he was just the best dad in the world, the man I looked up to more than anyone," said Hunter Gordon, a son. "He wanted to do the best job he could with integrity and honesty."

Born June 9, 1925, in Philadelphia, Mr. Gordon was known in his youth for excelling in the classroom and on the athletic fields. Even late in life, he loved to walk to Haverford College and walk around the track.

After graduating from Penn Law School in 1951, he took a job at the Philadelphia law firm Ballard Spahr, where he worked until 1959.

He then became the first resident counsel at Philadelphia National Bank, where he would work for the next three decades. He is credited with helping to develop the bank's first credit card and crafting the legal framework for the local network of ATM machines.

In 1990, he took a position as senior counsel at Montgomery McCracken Walker & Rhoads in Philadelphia. He went in to work there on his 90th birthday - another day at the office.

Mr. Gordon's charitable activities were widely known.

He served as chairman of Lankenau Hospital and the Lankenau Hospital Foundation from 1984 to 1988, then as chairman of the Main line Health Board of Trustees until 1998, according to a release from his family.

"Joe was one of the sharpest and most engaged minds I have ever been around in my 30-plus years in health care," said John Lynch III, president and CEO of Main Line Health in the statement. "He had the unique talent of being able to see complex issues before anyone else and be able to find brilliant solutions. . . . Those who knew Joe were blessed to be able to call him a friend."

Mr. Gordon's death coincided with the fourth anniversary of his wife's death. He and Ray McLean Gordon married in 1955.

In addition to his daughter and son, Mr. Gordon is survived by daughter Sarah and son Scott and six grandchildren.

A memorial service is to be at Gulph Mills Golf Club at 11 a.m. Saturday, Oct. 24.

The family asked that donations in memory of Mr. Gordon be made to the Joseph and Ray Gordon Chair in Clinical Oncology and Research at Lankenau Medical Center, 100 E. Lancaster Rd., Suite 564, Wynnewood, Pa. 19096.

Mnussbaum@philly.com

610-313-8114@MatthewNussbaum