Rash's Surname Index
Notes for Henry Smedley Jr. HILLES
Henry S. Hilles Jr., law firm partner
By Walter F. Naedele
Inquirer Staff Writer
Henry S. Hilles Jr., 71, a former partner at the Philadelphia law firm Drinker Biddle, died of lung cancer Wednesday, Jan. 12, at his home in Bryn Mawr.
His son, Henry S. III, a former Montgomery County assistant district attorney, said Mr. Hilles was for a time the lead railroad-acquisition counsel for SEPTA.
In 1982, Mr. Hilles was the SEPTA lawyer who helped prevent a shutdown of the commuter-rail system.
At the time, Conrail operated the commuter-train lines under a contract with SEPTA and was scheduled to hand over the responsibility to SEPTA on Jan. 1, 1983. But Conrail argued that it was owed millions by SEPTA for running the trains.
On March 20, 1982, The Inquirer reported, "the threatened April 1 shutdown of service for 45,000 riders was averted." The day before, Mr. Hilles and a Conrail lawyer accepted terms suggested by U.S. District Judge Donald W. VanArtsdalen.
"The two agencies had been arguing for several months," the report stated, "but quickly compromised once the judge intervened."
After only a half-hour in the judge's chambers, the lawyers returned to the courtroom, where "Conrail attorney Jerome J. Shestack piped up with a question . . . 'May we have the check?' "
"SEPTA attorney Henry S. Hilles Jr. then grinned and handed Shestack a check made out for $3.7 million. They shook hands and laughed."
Born in the Frankford neighborhood, Mr. Hilles graduated from Germantown Friends School in 1957 and earned a bachelor's degree, Phi Beta Kappa, at Wesleyan University in 1961.
He graduated in 1964 from the University of Pennsylvania Law School, where he was a member of the Order of the Coif and comments editor of the law review.
Mr. Hilles spent his 35-year law career at Drinker Biddle, making partner in 1970 and retiring in 1999. His son said he was chairman of what is now the business law section at the Philadelphia Bar Association, where he was an active member until 2006.
He was a treasurer and a trustee of the former Unitarian Universalist House, an assisted-living and nursing home in Germantown. He also was a board member of the Courts, a tennis and social club in Wynnewood.
Besides his son, Mr. Hilles is survived by his wife, Jane Feaver; daughters Susan Tillman, Katharine Macdonald, and Nancy Roach; a stepson, George Feaver; a stepdaughter, Aline Anderson; a brother; a sister; and 11 grandchildren. He is also survived by his first wife, Mary Wolcott. A memorial service is planned for an undetermined date.
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