George Seckel Pepper was an American philanthropist. He was also a lawyer.
Background
George Seckel Pepper was born on June 11, 1808. He was the son of George and Mary Catharine (Seckel) Pepper; William Pepper, 1810 - 1864, was a brother. Their grandfather, Henry Pepper (Heinrich Pfeffer), born near Strassburg, Germany, had come to America with his wife Catharine about 1769 and settled in Lebanon County, Pennsylvania. In 1774 he moved to Philadelphia, where he made a fortune and died in 1808. His extensive business interests were taken over by his second son, George, who became one of the richest men in the city. In business ability he was probably equaled by no other Philadelphian of the time except Stephen Girard. He is said to have had the first greenhouse in Philadelphia and was one of the founders of the Pennsylvania Horticultural Society. Thus George S. Pepper, in the third generation, inherited wealth that gave him ample opportunity to promote the cultural development of his native city, especially since he never married.
Career
George Seckel Pepper was admitted to the bar October 23, 1830, but gave much of his time to civic interests. For thirty-four years, from 1850 to 1884, he served on the board of directors of the Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts and was its president from 1884 until his death, when the Academy became one of the beneficiaries under his will. In 1853 Pepper was one of a group of public-spirited citizens who decided to erect a building where music could be suitably heard, several of their early meetings were held in his office. The American Academy of Music (now simply the Academy of Music), seating nearly 3, 000 and with unusually fine acoustic properties, was opened January 26, 1857, and at once became the center in Philadelphia for musical performances and important public gatherings.
Pepper did much to insure the success of the undertaking, not only as a generous subscriber, but also as chairman of the building committee, for a time of the finance committee, and from 1857 to 1870 of the executive committee. Among the many philanthropies that he fostered was the Henry Seybert Fund, for the care of indigent children, of which he was a trustee. At his death in 1890 the greater part of his estate of about $2, 000, 000 went to public benefactions, including legacies to ten hospitals, the Franklin Institute, the Zoological Society, the Pennsylvania Museum and School of Industrial Art, the Rittenhouse Club, for the purchase of a library, and the Philadelphia, Commercial, and Apprentice libraries. To the University of Pennsylvania he gave $60, 000 which was used to endow the George S. Pepper Professorship of Hygiene.
In addition to $150, 000, a share in the residuary estate was set aside to found a free city library, for although Philadelphia had led in the eighteenth century in the establishment of lending libraries, these had remained close corporations. Pepper realized the inadequacy of his legacy for the purpose intended, but his hope that this might serve as a nucleus was soon realized, largely through the enthusiastic support of the project by his nephew, Provost William Pepper, and other members of his family. By 1927, when its handsome new building was opened on the Parkway, the Free Library of Philadelphia had twenty-nine branches in the city and about 750, 000 books.
George Seckel Pepper died on May 2, 1890.
Achievements
George Seckel Pepper was a distinguished philanthropist and lawyer. He was one of the founders of the Pennsylvania Academy of Music, and at one time its president. He was also for some years president of the Academy of Fine Arts. As philathropist, his $225, 000 behest established the Free Library of Philadelphia. He devoted money to many charities.
