H eadlines
Electric Company Founder Robert Ford Dies
O B I TUA RY
JED WEISBERGER | JE STAFF
THOSE WHO KNEW Robert
Ford, who died at 85 on Jan. 8,
felt he was moral, gentle and
never stopped learning.

“He always was look-
ing to learn, even as he got
older,” daughter Nancy Ford
Grossman said of her father,
who earned a Ph.D. in busi-
ness administration at 70,
and another in administrative
engineering at 74.

As a businessman, found-
ing Robert Ford Electric Co.

in Bryn Mawr, with a pres-
ence in Ardmore, Philadelphia
and Longport, N.J., he stressed
high standards, morals, integ-
rity and ethics in building his
firm in the fields of electri-
cal construction management
Robert Ford
Photo provided
and collaborative design build,
Grossman said.

His company’s clients
included NFL Films, the
Comcast Center, the Academy
of Natural Sciences, the
Barnes Foundation, QVC, the
University of Pennsylvania
Health System and PECO.

“My father was really a very
humble man,” said son Stuart
Ford, who has served as the
firm’s vice president and gen-
eral counsel since 2000. “He
taught us how to live and be
ethical in our dealings. He
spun off Robert Ford Electric
Co. from my grandfather’s
Henry Ford Electric Co. and
always did whatever he could
for the customer.”
Robert Ford’s initial employ-
ment after graduating from the
University of Pennsylvania was
with General Electric, where
he helped design re-entry
systems for such items as the
Atlas intercontinental ballis-
tic missile and influenced the
design of what would become
the game Battleship in a
building on Chestnut Street.

“My dad’s first job was with
GE, then for the better part of
two decades he worked for his
father’s company before form-
ing the firm I still work for
today,” Stuart Ford said.

Two of the larger projects
were with NFL Films in Mount
Laurel, N.J., and the Comcast
Center in Philadelphia.

“With NFL Films, when
they moved into their build-
ing, they needed an electrical
expert with production studios,
film transfer, complex audio
and video and lighting,” Stuart
Ford said. “With the Comcast
Center, we installed a custom
fire-alarm and smoke-evacua-
tion system. … My father was
able to design and customize
systems with a number of proj-
ects that saved the customer a
good deal of money.”
Ford was involved with many
charitable endeavors includ-
ing Boys Town Jerusalem, the
Jewish Theological Seminary,
the Golden Slipper Club and
Charities and the Abramson
Center for Jewish Life. He was
Gov. Ed Rendell’s commis-
sioner appointee on the Board
of Professional Engineers
and Land Surveyors and
served on the Pennsylvania
Impact Commission under
Gov. Tom Ridge.

A funeral was held Jan. 10
at Har Zion Temple in Penn
Valley, with interment at West
Laurel Hill Cemetery in Bala
Cynwyd. Contributions in
Ford’s memory may be made
to Har Zion or the Abramson
Center. l
jweisberger@jewishexponent.com; 215-832-0737
NAME: CHAIN MAR FURNITURE SHOWCASE; WIDTH: 9.25 IN; DEPTH: 5.5 IN; COLOR: BLACK PLUS ONE; AD NUMBER:
00082846 JEWISHEXPONENT.COM
JEWISH EXPONENT
JANUARY 24, 2019
7