obituaries
School Board
President, ADL Chair
Herman Mattleman
Dies at 96
SASHA ROGELBERG | STAFF WRITER
L ongtime School District of
Philadelphia board president,
former Anti-Defamation League
Philadelphia board chair and health care
lawyer Herman Mattleman died at his
Center City home on April 2. He was 96.

Mattleman served on the Philadelphia
school board from 1981 to 1990, acting
as president from 1983 to 1990, serving
200,000 students and 25,000 employ-
ees spread across 400 buildings, a Nov.

30, 1990 Jewish Exponent article said.

In 1990, he received the Philadelphia
Award, the city’s highest honor.

22 “My dad really proved that nice guys
know how to get things done,” son Jon
Mattleman said. “He knew the names
of people who were custodians; he knew
everyone.” Mattleman inherited a school board
that had “lost its credibility with the city,”
due to poor money management, accord-
ing to the Exponent article.

To add professionalism and stabil-
ity to the school district’s leadership,
Mattleman’s board chose Superintendent
Constance Clayton to preside over the
large student body. Mattleman advo-
cated for increased funding to expand
student programs and social services,
but remained humble in the face of his
APRIL 21, 2022 | JEWISHEXPONENT.COM
Herman Mattleman served as the School District of Philadelphia board president
from 1983-1990.

Photo by Cliff Hence
accomplishments. “No matter when you leave a profes-
sion like this, you’re like Moses in the
desert — you can’t go into the land of
Canaan,” Mattleman said of his retire-
ment in the Exponent interview. “So you
look down the mountainside and say
there are some things you have accom-
plished and some you haven’t.”
Mattleman’s time at the Philadelphia
school district was bookended by his
health care law career at Mattleman,
Greenberg, Shmerelson & Weinroth.

He served as board chair of ADL
Philadelphia after he left the school board
in the 1990s, eventually acting as a com-
missioner for the national organization.

“He believed in treating all people
with dignity and respect,” former ADL
Philadelphia Regional Director Nancy
Baron-Baer said.

Mattleman was the only child of
Mary and Emmanuel Mattleman,
who owned a kosher butcher shop on
West Cumberland Street in Strawberry
Mansion. The family lived in the apart-
ment behind the shop and seldom sat
down for meals together, as they were
frequently interrupted by customers.

Mattleman had a deep interest in
World War II books, filling his book-
shelves with hundreds of them.

“He never got tired of talking about the
Holocaust,” daughter Ellen Mattleman
Kaplan said. “He had family members
who hid underneath floorboards in
Romania. His favorite cousin died in
World War II.”
Mattleman attended Gratz High
School — and later the University of
Pennsylvania for undergraduate and law
school — and Camp Tel-Hei in Bucks
County, where, as a counselor, he met his
wife Marciene Mattleman.

“She called her parents and said, ‘Come
pick me up,’ but she said, ‘But pick me up
tomorrow because I have a date tonight,’”
daughter Barbara Mattleman said.

The couple was married for 68 years
until 2019, when Marciene Mattleman, a
public school teacher, Temple University
professor and founder of After School
Activities Partnerships, died from
Parkinson’s disease complications.

The couple’s three children, along with
their parents, dubbed themselves “the
originals,” and were fiercely close with
one another.

“The originals” were later joined by
“the outlaws” (in-laws), six grandchil-
dren and five great-grandchildren, all of
whom survive Mattleman.

“He was wildly devoted to his grandchil-
dren. He and mom took trips with them,
and they just played such a critical part of
their lives growing up,” Kaplan said.

Mattleman found humor in everyday-
life and had a love for Hershey’s choco-
late bars with almonds, as well as a few
Ashkenazi favorites.

“The corned beef industry is going
to go under with dad’s death,” Kaplan
said. “No one loved a good corned beef
sandwich with pickles and coleslaw like
Dad.” JE
srogelberg@midatlanticmedia.com MEMORIAL
KLEVAN FLORA
LEE KLEVAN,
December 16,1933-March 31,1982 40th Yahrzeit Al-
though nothing can replace the gaping hole
your death has left in my life, I want to thank
you for all the ways in which you blessed my
life. Because mixed together with all of my
sadness, there is a great joy knowing you
were my mom. I will remember your smile,
your touch, your laughter, your kindness,
your love. Thank you for the time we shared,
for the love you gave, for the wisdom you
spread. I will always treasure the lessons you
taught me. I will carry them with me for the
rest of my life. I am so proud to be your child.

I love you. Your loving daughter
LISA (KLEVAN) SOFFER
Always remembered by Lisa,
Howard, Nolan and Ilana Soffer