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<p>When a trailer truck crashed on the Pennsylvania Turnpike killing him in the prime of his life, the portrait of <em>Philip Owen “Phil” Benham Jr</em>. was nowhere near complete. However, the outlines of his life, transparent in the unfinished portrait’s face and its expressions, the common threads that described him, were unmistakable. Phil Benham was a good man. </p>
<p>The waypoints on Phil’s moral compass were clear: do things right and do the right thing. And overlaying all was a quiet, gentle, caring man. His central pillar was his family; his love and concern for the love of his life, Elizabeth, and their four children—Rebecca, Rachel, Philip O. “Tug,” and Emily—defined him. </p>
<p>Phil’s portrait, though unfinished, captured his essence. He was an honest, independent thinker, a man to whom performance, excellence, and standards mattered. Phil was a watchdog for the underdog. Phil Benham was the consummate teacher, mentor and champion to those self-reliant souls who, just like him, were uncomfortable with mediocrity and for whom “excellence” was their bright north star.</p>
<p>Phil was born on July 8, 1944 in Gloucester, MA, the son of Philip O. and Shirley Elizabeth Benham. Phil’s moral compass was established early. His father, a World War II Army Air Corps pilot, flew B-17s and participated in D-Day. Phil’s grandfather was a Gloucester fisherman, who started as a cabin boy and became captain of his own whaling ship. He taught Phil astronomy and how to navigate by the stars. Together, these men and Phil’s mother framed his moral code and planted the seeds for his lifelong love of and pride in his Gloucester roots. Early signs of Phil’s focus on excellence were easy to see. He was a star athlete, played ice hockey and was captain of his Marian High School football team. He was also class president, an Eagle Scout, and a member of the National Honor Society. </p>
<p>Fittingly, he was nominated to West Point by his senator, Benjamin A. Smith II, also from Gloucester.</p>
<p>At West Point, Phil initially pursued his love affair with sports, playing football and hockey and running track. But a serious hockey accident landed him in the hospital, ending his West Point sports career. </p>
<p>Phil long remembered his unique experiences from plebe year, which involved constant hazing by certain omnipresent, heavy-handed upperclassmen. He later described that year as “traumatizing,” and it served as a baseline for his lifelong intolerance of “jerks.” But Phil was not cowed by nor was he without humor in dealing with plebe year reality. In one incident, he was ordered into a wall locker. When the hazers finally opened it, Phil fell out. As the hazers worried about what they had done, Phil came to laughing…getting even without doing anything forbidden. </p>
<p>Like others, Phil sometimes wrestled with academics. Classmates close to him characterized his reaction as exasperated but never defeated. </p>
<p>The high point of Phil’s cadet career though was his courtship of his future wife, the light of his life from the day he met her at the 1964 World’s Fair in New York. Phil first saw Elizabeth in the Fair’s Belgian Village, tapped her on the shoulder and asked her to dance the polka—the polka! They exchanged addresses; Elizabeth gave him 15 cents for the subway to help him get back to West Point, and, as the saying goes, “The rest is history.” His companymates soon learned that Elizabeth was the center of his universe. So too did the tactical department: he was “written up” for PDA (“strolling with arm around lady in Central Area”). On June 18, 1966, he and Elizabeth married and began “their” journey together. </p>
<p>Phil was commissioned in the Infantry and soon deployed to Vietnam. As a platoon leader with the 4th Battalion, 12th Infantry Regiment, 199th Light Infantry Brigade, he was wounded in December 1967 as he mounted an assault under intense automatic weapons and rocket fire against an entrenched Viet Cong enemy and was awarded the Bronze Star Medal for valor. Aside from his heroic action, speaking volumes to Phil’s stature with his troops was the simple fact that it was his soldiers who submitted him for the award. Phil transferred to the Engineer Corps and served a second tour in Vietnam from 1972 to 1973 as a company commander in the 5th Engineer Combat Battalion. </p>
<p>After Vietnam, Phil reported to the University of Colorado as an assistant professor of military science. There, he encouraged two female cadets to apply to West Point; they did and became members of the first USMA graduating class to have women. At UC, Phil also laid the foundation for the rest of his professional career, earning both his MBA and his doctorate in business administration. So much for his academic skirmishes at West Point!</p>
<p>Phil stepped decisively into the realm of teaching, education, and mentoring with his first stop at Bucknell University. In 1985, “Doctor Phil” moved to Newport News Shipbuilding, where he was program manager for management development and training. He later became director of the Graduate School of Human Resource Management and Industrial Relations at St. Francis University. During the same time, he also left his mark on the banking community. Having served as a distinguished faculty member for the PA Bankers Association Advanced School of Banking, the association honored him with the creation of the “Dr. Philip O. Benham, Jr. Achievement Award,” which is awarded to one or two students who achieve the highest academic standing over three years. </p>
<p>Philip O. Benham Jr. left this world in the prime of life. He was “all in”; he never quit. Well Done, Phil! Be Thou at Peace. </p>
<p><em>— Family and Classmates</em></p>
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