Morton Bernard Phillips Obituary - Visitation & Funeral Information

Morton Bernard Phillips, August 25, 1918 - August 22, 2017 After a remarkable life, Mort Phillips died peacefully in his sleep on Tuesday morning, just days shy of his 99th birthday. Born in Manitowoc, WI in 1918 to Rose & Jay Phillips, the family soon moved to Minneapolis where Mort attended the University of Minnesota and met his bride-to-be, Pauline Friedman, at a fraternity dance. After a double wedding in 1939 and short stints in Minneapolis and Eau Claire, the couple and their children, Jeanne and Eddie, moved to San Francisco - where Mort focused on family businesses and investments, including Ed Phillips & Sons Co., National Presto, and North Central Airlines, and Pauline became known the world over as Abigail Van Buren, founder of the “Dear Abby” advice column. While their life intersected with some of the best known celebrities and world leaders of the day, Mort cultivated his own set of fascinating friends from all walks of life. He also enjoyed flying airplanes, road tripping through the west in his Ford Bronco and exploring the great outdoors, particularly Aspen, Colorado - where he hosted friends and family and made many memories beginning in the early 1970’s. A bon vivant, gentleman and outdoorsman who sported an iconic beard most of his life, Mort enjoyed good wit and a well-told story, fine food and wine, interesting people and places and the sporting life of fishing, hiking and skiing. He was a dapper man who looked as handsome in a tuxedo as he did in jeans and cowboy boots, and enjoyed dinner at Manny’s as much as brunch at The Original Pancake House. Mort is survived by a legion of loving people who played meaningful, enduring and important roles in his life. Private services have been held and Mort asked that in lieu of tears and flowers, everyone “be happy and smile”.