Necrology

Philip Wade Bresee '48

Oct. 29, 1924-Jul. 24, 2018

Philip Wade Bresee ’48, of Oneonta and Cooperstown, N.Y., an executive of the former department store in Oneonta that bore the family name, was born on Oct. 29, 1924, the son of the former Cora Wade and Clyde Bresee, a retail merchant. Bresee graduated from Oneonta High School in 1942.

Bresee first attended Cornell University, where he intended to major in electrical engineering, but his studies were interrupted by World War II. In March 1943 he enlisted in the U.S. Air Force, where he trained as a meteorologist. He eventually served as a weather officer on Guam and Saipan.

           Bresee returned from the war in August 1946 and entered Hamilton. He majored in economics and science and was elected to Phi Beta Kappa.

For his 50th reunion yearbook, Bresee mused that his Hamilton experience “gave me a better appreciation of the arts, literature, and the finer things in life. It was a very pleasant change after three-and-a-half-years in the Army Air Force!”

Bresee earned a master’s degree in retailing from New York University in 1949 and then entered the family business, serving as president of Bresee’s Department Store from many years. He was community-minded, serving as president of the Oneonta Chamber of Commerce and the chamber’s merchants division, director of the Oneonta Savings and Loan Association, and chairman of the United Way major gifts division. He was named Citizen of the Year by the Chamber of Commerce in 1990.

Bresee was also an avid golfer and loved boating, downhill skiing, tennis, travel, and jazz, a published obituary noted.

 Philip W. Bresee died on July 24, 2018. He was 93 and is survived by a son; two daughters; 11 grandchildren, including Kim Bresee Knipe ’91 and Corinne Bresee Smith ’02; and 23 great-grandchildren. He was predeceased by his wife, the former Ruth Walsh, in 2006; a cousin, Wilmer Bresee ’31; and a nephew, Thomas Hebert Jr. ’67. 

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