JOHN ARTHUR KEPPELMAN
Source: Pennsylvania, A History, George P. Donehoo, (New York: Lewis Historical Publishing Co., 1926), p. 174
Surnames: Keppelman, Arthur, Sternbergh
In presenting to the public the representative men of Reading and
the State of Pennsylvania, who by superior force of character and
energy, together with a combination of qualities of natural ability and
excellence have made themselves conspicuous and commanding in public
and private life, we have no finer example to present than John Arthur
Keppelman, a leading attorney of Reading, Pennsylvania. Not only has
he risen high in his profession in Pennsylvania, but he also possesses
those excellencies of human nature that make men worthy of the highest
regard among their fellowmen in their daily contact with each other.
Mr. Keppelman is a self-made man in the truest and best sense of the
word. His professional life is always a full and busy one, his
everyday affairs making heavy demands upon his time, yet he never
shrinks from his duty as a citizen on his obligation to his State and
Nation.
John Arthur Keppelman, son of John H. and Mary E. (Arthur)
Keppelman, was born in Reading, June 18, 1877, and after receiving
there a public school education, graduated with honors from the High
School for Boys with the class of 1895, of which he was the class
orator. Preparatory to entering Yale University he entered Phillips
Academy at Andover, Massachusetts, where he graduated in 1897. He
entered Yale in 1897 and graduated there in 1901, receiving the degree
of Bachelor of Arts. At Andover and at Yale he was one of the most
prominent men of his time. He was well known as a scholar and an
athlete, was awarded prizes for oratory and literary work, and he
belonged to the most exclusive undergraduate societies at Yale, notably
Skull and Bones, probably the most highly regarded college secret
society in the United States. He was socially prominent at Yale, and
took a leading part in maintaining the ideals of that institution.
Ever since graduation he has maintained the keenest interest in his
preparatory school and his alma mater, and has been instrumental in
sending a number of boys to both. From Yale he went to Harvard
University in 1901, and graduated from the Harvard Law School in 1904,
with the degree of Bachelor of Laws. Intending to permanently practice
his profession in New York City, he entered the offices of Simpson,
Thatcher & Bartlett there in 1904, and while with them was identified
with the organization and management of some of the largest and most
prosperous corporation and public utilities in the country. He
remained with them until 1907, and was admitted to the New York bar in
1906. Though rising steadily in his profession in New York he yielded
to the persuasion of his family to establish himself in Reading, and
giving up the promise of a brilliant career in New York he came to
Reading in 1907, where, after a brief association with the late Isaac
Hiester, Esq., he was admitted to the Pennsylvania and Berks County
bars in 1907. He opened his own offices in Reading in 1907, and this
city has since been the center of his professional and business
activities. His early practice was general in character, tending later
to specialization in corporation law, in which field he has attained
the reputation of one of the leaders of the Pennsylvania bar.
Mr. Keppelman’s professional and business activities are wide and
varied. He has been identified with some of the most important
litigations in Southeastern Pennsylvania. He has been and is counsel
for numerous manufacturing and industrial corporations, banks, and
public utilities, including gas, street railway, electric, and water
companies, in some of which he is also a director and an officer. He
was instrumental in the drafting of the Public Service Company Law of
Pennsylvania, and other legislation affecting public service companies.
He is regarded as an authority on public service company law in
Pennsylvania.
It was through Mr. Keppelman’s efforts that the first extension of
Reading’s territorial boundaries in fifty years was made by the
annexation of an extensive outlying district now constituting the
eighteenth ward. The precedent he established was used in subsequent
annexations. In 1918, 1919 and 1920 he was a member of the Executive
Committee of the Pennsylvania Bar Association. During the World War he
was Federal Food Administrator for Berks County, and in that capacity
succeeded in cementing the people of the County in a common purpose to
conserve food products with loyalty to the Federal administration.
Recently he was appointed chairman of the Citizens’ Committee having in
charge the first National Defense Day celebration, which was a signal
success and which firmly established the purposes of that day. He was
a member of the board of directors of the Young Men’s Christian
Association. He has been for some years a member of the Chamber of
Commerce of the United States, and has been the representative of the
Reading Chamber of Commerce and the city of Reading at its annual
conventions.
Mr. Keppelman is an ardent sportsman. He recently organized the
Berks County Rod and Gun Association, and through it has been able to
replenish the fields and streams of Berks County with game and fish.
As a book-lover he is widely known, and he has what is probably one of
the finest private libraries in Pennsylvania. He has devoted much time
to the selection of original editions and rare bindings.
Mr. Keppelman has delivered many public and semi-public addresses
upon political and literary subjects. He is a gifted public speaker,
and possesses singular charm and magnetism. His addresses are full of
inspiration and evidences of unusual culture. His public utterances
are free from equivocation and are marked by directness of statement
and conviction.
Upon the death of Mr. Keppelman’s father, August 9, 1924, he was
chosen as president of the Consumers’ Gas Company, of which he was
formerly a director and general counsel. His knowledge of public
service companies, his grasp of local conditions, and the high respect
which is held for him by the people of Reading make him especially
fitted to fill this responsible position.
Mr. Keppelman is a member of the American, Pennsylvania, and Berks
County Bar associations, Yale Chapter of the Psi Upsilon Fraternity,
the Wyomissing Club, the Berkshire Country Club, the Yale Clubs of
Philadelphia and New York, the University Clubs of Reading and
Philadelphia, the Pennsylvania German Society, the Historical Society
of Berks County, the Pennsylvania Society of New York, American Academy
of Political and Social Science, Academy of Political Science of New
York, Reading Chamber of Commerce, Engineers’ Society of Pennsylvania,
Congressional Country Club of Washington, American Economic
Association, American Society of International Law, and numerous other
associations. He is also a member of St. John’s Lodge, No. 435, Free
and Accepted Masons, of which he is a Past Master, and Scottish Rite
Bodies, Chapter and Commandery, and Council, and Rajah Temple. He is
also a member of Reading Lodge, No. 155, Benevolent and Protective
Order of Elks.
In National and State politics he is a Republican, and though he has
been independent in local politics, has never cared to accept office,
but has preferred to devote his time to professional and business
affairs. He is an Episcopalian, and is a member of Christ Episcopal
Church, of Reading.
On March 19, 1907, Mr. Keppelman married Harriet May Sternbergh,
daughter of the late James Hervey Sternbergh, president of the American
Iron and Steel Manufacturing Company, which was later purchased by the
Bethlehem Steel Company, a sketch of whom follows. Mr. and Mrs.
Keppelman have had five children, all boys, four of whom are living, as
follows: John Arthur, Jr., Arthur Conrad, Richard Schuyler and Robert
May. Pearl Lambert died in 1914. Both Mr. and Mrs. Keppelman are firm
believers in living their daily lives with their children, and their
relations with their children are an example to the community.
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