BEAVERCREEK — Great.
Respected.
Giving.
That’s how long-time Beavercreek resident Ed Phillips is being described by people around the county. Phillips, who spent decades in his family’s business — Phillips Companies — died Oct. 20 at the age of 85. His death leaves a hole in the community that will likely never be filled.
“He never met someone he didn’t know in the community,” said long-time friend Dr. Ron Bickert, former Beavercreek schools superintendent. “He was really deep in the community. He knew so many people. He and I were good friends. The kind you can sit down and talk with.”
George Edwin Phillips was born Nov. 12, 1938 and moved to Beavercreek with his family when he was in seventh grade. He was a football standout and earned a scholarship to Bowling Green State University, where he helped the Falcons win the UPI national championship in 1959.
Phillips married Diane, his wife of 64 years, and returned to Beavercreek to join the family business which continued to thrive under his leadership.
“During his tenure it grew and prospered,” said Dow Reichley, a fellow businessman who ran Reichley Insurance for more than 30 years. “During the time he was the titular head of it, it went forwards not backwards. He did a good job with it as their leader.”
Phillips was extremely active in the community. He was elected to the Beavercreek Charter Commission and held memberships in the Beavercreek, Fairborn and Dayton chambers of commerce. He served on the Greene County Airport Authority, was president of the Greene County YMCA, and was a member of Wright State University’s Foundation Board and Bowling Green State University’s Alumni Board.
It was his love of serving the community that brought Phillips and Bickert together as friends, as both were members of the Beavercreek Rotary.
“I invited him to come to meet with me — when I was superintendent — at a forum where we had gathered a couple of people from the community together who were business influencers who could help me with an advisory group,” Bickert said. “We were talking about the future of the schools. I was really glad to have him on there. He was like a standard bearer. Everybody knew him. You always got something positive (when people talked about him), never any negatives. He simply was a great man. I felt like it was a privilege to be his friend.”
Those sentiments were echoed by Greene County Auditor David Graham, who called Phillips a “gentleman” and a “respected man.”
“I had the pleasure of talking with Ed as the tax assessor — yes he too would question his property taxes as so many do — and at a variety of social events,” Graham said. “It didn’t matter where or why you were talking to him, he was always a gentleman and always someone who you could discuss issues with. Even when you may disagree, he respected your perspective. On several occasions we would simply be talking about family, work, or just the state of things, and without giving direct advice, he would offer a story that would relate to the conversation and help you see the issue from a different perspective.”
Graham said Phillips never commanded respect, he earned it. But he never flaunted his status as a business and community leader.
“His calm and thoughtful demeanor put you at ease,” Graham said. “He would not accept being called Mr. Phillips, even when I was a much younger man and understood his importance to the community relative to mine. I can’t say enough positive things about Ed. He will be missed not only by me, but by our entire community. I will always remember him as a role model and hope I can live up to the standards he set and that we should all follow.”
Reichley said Phillips was very “giving” and helped his church, the community, and his fellow man.
“He gave back more than he took,” Reichley said. “When you think about the moniker of a good man, he really was. He basically had what I considered a life well lived.”
While neither Ed nor Diane sought attention, they were recognized for their long history of community service. They were the E.G. Shaw recipients in 1995, and the prestigious E.J. Nutter Award winners in 2006. But Phillips was most proud of his children Brad (Patti), Larry (Sheila), Matt (Patti), and Becca (Bill), his 12 grandchildren and five great-grandchildren.
A visitation was held Thursday and there will also be a visitation at Peace Lutheran Church, 3530 Dayton-Xenia Road, Beavercreek at 11 a.m. Friday, Oct. 25, followed by a celebration of his life at 12 p.m.
Reach Scott Halasz at 937-502-4507.
