Richard Gregory Phillips Sr. (August 24, 1940 – May 31, 2013) was an American lawyer. From 1978 to 2000, he was

general counsel A general counsel, also known as chief counsel or chief legal officer (CLO), is the chief in-house lawyer for a company or a governmental department. In a company, the person holding the position typically reports directly to the CEO, and their ...

and executive director of the

Major League Umpires Association The Major League Umpires Association was a union for the umpires of both the American League and the National League. It was formed in 1970. It was superseded by the World Umpires Association (now the Major League Baseball Umpires Associati ...

(MLUA). He held a similar position for

National Basketball Association The National Basketball Association (NBA) is a professional basketball sports league, league in North America. The league is composed of 30 teams (29 in the United States and 1 in Canada) and is one of the major professional sports leagues i ...

(NBA)

referee A referee is an official, in a variety of sports and competition, responsible for enforcing the rules of the sport, including sportsmanship decisions such as ejection. The official tasked with this job may be known by a variety of other tit ...

s. Phillips is notable for recommending that

Major League Baseball Major League Baseball (MLB) is a professional baseball organization and the oldest major professional sports league in the world. MLB is composed of 30 total teams, divided equally between the National League (NL) and the American League (AL) ...

(MLB)

umpires An umpire is an official in a variety of sports and competition, responsible for enforcing the rules of the sport, including sportsmanship decisions such as ejection. The term derives from the Old French nonper, ''non'', "not" and ''per'', ...

resign en masse in 1999.

Biography

Phillips, the son of a police officer, was born in August 1940 in

Philadelphia Philadelphia, often called Philly, is the largest city in the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, the sixth-largest city in the U.S., the second-largest city in both the Northeast megalopolis and Mid-Atlantic regions after New York City. Sinc ...

. He graduated from St. Thomas More High School and received both his undergraduate and law degrees from

Villanova University Villanova University is a private Roman Catholic research university in Villanova, Pennsylvania. It was founded by the Augustinians in 1842 and named after Saint Thomas of Villanova. The university is the oldest Catholic university in Pen ...

. While in college, he played varsity football and later returned to coach the freshman football team while attending law school. After getting his legal degree in 1966, Phillips worked for one-and-a-half years in the Philadelphia

public defender A public defender is a lawyer appointed to represent people who otherwise cannot reasonably afford to hire a lawyer to defend themselves in a trial. Several countries provide people with public defenders, including the UK, Hungary and Singapore, ...

's office. From there, he moved to the district attorney's office as a trial assistant in the organized crime division, and on to the homicide division until around 1971. Phillips' law office was located in

Bala Cynwyd, Pennsylvania Bala Cynwyd ( ) is a community in Lower Merion Township, Pennsylvania. It is located on the Philadelphia Main Line in Southeastern Pennsylvania, bordering the western edge of Philadelphia at U.S. Route 1 (City Avenue). It was originally two separa ...

.Richard G. Phillips Associates, P.C. Bala Cynwyd, Pennsylvania Office Profile

Martindale-Hubbell Martindale-Hubbell is an information services company to the legal profession that was founded in 1868. The company publishes the ''Martindale-Hubbell Law Directory'', which provides background information on lawyers and law firms in the United S ...

. Accessed October 5, 2013. He represented the Transport Workers Union and handled legal matters for the top brass of the Carpenters Union. He also represented about 30 athletes, which he maintained did not present any conflict of interest with his duties relating to sports officials. In 1996, Phillips became the majority owner of Pilot Freight Services, based in

Lima, Pennsylvania Lima is an unincorporated community and census-designated place (CDP) in Middletown Township, Delaware County, Pennsylvania, United States. The population was 2,735 at the 2010 census, down from 3,225 at the 2000 census. It is pronounced "LYE-m ...

. At the time, Pilot Freight was struggling to stay afloat in a sea full of transportation providers. Phillips was able to lead the company to the top of the industry, and by the time he stepped away from day-to-day management of the company, Pilot Freight Services was the largest privately held freight forwarder in the United States. In 2007, Phillips' son Richard Jr. became CEO of the company. Phillips served as general counsel and executive director of the

(MLUA). He recommended that

umpires resign en masse effective September 2, 1999, seeking enhanced benefits for union umpires. This decision ultimately turned out to be devastating to the umpires, as Major League Baseball accepted many of the resignations, terminating their employment and promoting replacement umpires from the

minor leagues Minor leagues are professional sports leagues which are not regarded as the premier leagues in those sports. Minor league teams tend to play in smaller, less elaborate venues, often competing in smaller cities/markets. This term is used in N ...

. The umpires later voted to decertify the union, replacing it with the World Umpires Association. In 1964, Phillips married Ellen Harrell; they had two sons and two daughters. He died of

cardiac arrest Cardiac arrest is when the heart suddenly and unexpectedly stops beating. It is a medical emergency that, without immediate medical intervention, will result in sudden cardiac death within minutes. Cardiopulmonary resuscitation (CPR) and possib ...

at his home in

Cape May, New Jersey Cape May is a city located at the southern tip of Cape May Peninsula in Cape May County, New Jersey, United States, where the Delaware Bay meets the Atlantic Ocean. It is one of the country's oldest vacation resort destinations, and part of ...

, at age 72 in May 2013.

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Phillips, Richie 1940 births 2013 deaths American trade union leaders Major League Baseball executives People from Cape May, New Jersey Lawyers from Philadelphia Pennsylvania lawyers Villanova Wildcats football players Villanova University School of Law alumni 20th-century American lawyers

Biography

References

Further reading

External links