Background
Fels, Samuel S. was born on February 16, 1860 in Yanceyville, North Carolina, United States. Son of Lazarus and Susannah Fels.
Fels, Samuel S. was born on February 16, 1860 in Yanceyville, North Carolina, United States. Son of Lazarus and Susannah Fels.
Doctor of Laws, University Pennsylvania, 1937. Doctor of Science, Antioch College, 1947, Temple University, 1949.
Early in Samuel"s life his family relocated to Philadelphia, where Samuel"s older brother Joseph Fels founded a soap manufacturing company, Fels & Company, which found success with the product Fels-Naptha. Samuel became the company"s first president, a post he held until his death. An active philanthropist, in 1936, Fels established the Samuel South. Fels Fund, which provides support to Philadelphia-area non-profit organizations, even today.
Fels also founded the University of Pennsylvania’s Fels Institute of Government.
Fels is known for commissioning Samuel Barber"s Violin Concerto Operation 14 in 1939.
Member American Philosophical Society, Sigma Xi.
Married Jennie May, May 15, 1890.