Bernard Featherman, 94, formerly of Philadelphia, retired president and chief executive officer at Bernard Franklin Co., Western Steel Co., and JBM Equipment Group; celebrated civic activist in Philadelphia, Maine, and Florida; former mayor of Highland Beach, Fla.; and tireless charitable advocate, died Friday, July 14, of respiratory failure at Baptist Health Boca Raton Regional Hospital in Florida.
“Innovative planning involving a partnership between local government and local community businesses, both large and small, is needed,” Mr. Featherman said in a 1983 editorial in The Inquirer. “In the future, more communication must take place between the city’s representatives and business people.”and local leaders in Philadelphia, Maine, and Florida about tax and budget policies, small business practices, and development.
He was president of the Philadelphia Association for Retarded Citizens from 1975 to 1977 and a trustee from 1983 to 1996. He served as chairman of a Philadelphia advisory committee on mental health from 1979 to 1992 and was active with the Red Cross, March of Dimes, Rotary International, B’nai Brith, and other groups.