Rash's Surname Index
Notes for Caspar Wistar Hodge MACLAREN
Wistar Hodge MacLaren, 85, a retired bank vice president and descendant of Benjamin Franklin, died Tuesday at his home in Bryn Mawr.
He was a modest man who rarely spoke about his famous ancestor, said his wife of 51 years, the former Louisa B. Phillips. He was related to Benjamin Franklin through his mother's family, from which he inherited a glass harmonica that belonged to the statesman and inventor. In 1979, he donated the harmonica to the Franklin Institute.
"He never talked about it," she said, adding that she believed there were five or six generations between her husband and Benjamin Franklin. "As each generation gets further away, you talk less about it."
Mr. MacLaren was born in Pittsburgh and raised in Princeton, where his father was a professor of engineering at Princeton University. Mr. MacLaren graduated from the same institution in 1928.
He worked for Brooke Stokes & Co. and Philadelphia Electric Co. before joining the Pennsylvania National Guard in 1941 as a member of the First City Troop of United States Cavalry. He enlisted in the U.S. Naval Reserve in 1942 and rose to the rank of lieutenant commander by the time he completed service in 1946.
Mr. MacLaren then joined Philadelphia National Bank, working first for its investment department and gaining the positions of vice president and controller.
After retiring from the bank in 1969, he spent much of his time traveling with his wife. He also enjoyed sports, particularly playing tennis, his wife said. And the couple built a house in Beaumont at Bryn Mawr.
He was a past director of the Valley Forge Council of the Boy Scouts of America and of the Citizens Council on City Planning, for which he chaired the transportation committee. He was a member of the Merion Cricket Club and Gulph
Mills Golf Club, and formerly belonged to the Mill Dam Club and the Pohoqualine Fish Association.
Besides his wife, Mr. MacLaren is survived by his sons, Joseph and Wistar; daughter, Lisa Kroeger; seven grandchildren, and two sisters.
A memorial service will be held at 11 a.m. next Saturday at the Church of the Redeemer, Fisher's and Old Gulph Roads, Bryn Mawr. Interment will be private.
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