A. Bruce Mainwaring, C’47, Trustee Emeritus and chair emeritus of the Penn Museum Board of Advisors, died on September 6, 2022. He was 95.

Mr. Mainwaring was born in Roxborough, Pennsylvania. After serving in the U.S. Naval Reserve during World War II and completing his education, Mr. Mainwaring joined his father’s Uniform Tubes Corporation and enjoyed a long career in the manufacturing industry. He became the president of Uniform Tubes and went on to create two new firms, UTI Corporation and Micro-Coax, Inc., which, like their parent company, manufacture metal tubing and related wares. UTI’s products have been used in a variety of industries including medicine, telecommunications, and aerospace, as evidenced when UTI tubing traveled to the moon on an Apollo spacecraft. In 2001 he founded the Mainwaring Archive Foundation, an organization exploring alternatives to scientific dogma.

Mr. Mainwaring was a leader, volunteer, and benefactor of Penn for many decades. He was appointed a University Trustee in 1991 and served on the Academic Policy and University Responsibility committees. His many volunteer roles included serving as a member of the Commonwealth Relations Council, president of the Mask and Wig Club, a director of the General Alumni Society, a member of the Bread Upon the Waters Scholarship Fund Board, and a member of the Agenda for Excellence Council.

Mr. Mainwaring was recognized in 1987 with the Alumni Award of Merit. He served as chair of the Penn Museum Board of Advisors, chair of the planned giving component of the museum’s 21st Century Campaign, and chair of the Expansion Committee responsible for creating the museum’s east wing—a state-of-the-art collections storage facility, which he and his wife, Peggy, made possible by their lead support and his fundraising, and which bears their name. They were also the lead donors to the museum’s 2010 West Wing Renovation Project, making possible the installation of climate control throughout the wing, the renovation of the historic Widener Lecture Room, and the creation of a suite of conservation and teaching labs which now house the museum’s Center for the Analysis of Archaeological Materials (CAAM). 

Mr. and Mrs. Mainwaring also endowed the first CAAM teaching specialist: the Mainwaring Teaching Specialist for Archaeozoology. In addition, they endowed the museum’s Chief Operating Officer position, established the Robert H. Dyson Near East Curatorship, and made provision for endowment funds supporting the Director’s Discretionary Fund as well as marketing and outreach activities. Their support extended to several other areas at the University, including undergraduate financial aid, the School of Nursing, the Morris Arboretum, the Pennsylvania Hospital, the Mask and Wig Club, the Institute of Contemporary Art, Penn Libraries, the Annenberg Center, and the School of Arts and Sciences.

During his career, Mr. Mainwaring was a member of the Young Presidents Organization, the Executives Organization, the American Management Association, and the American Society for Metals Board of Governors. He was also chairman of the Philadelphia Presidents Organization. His service reached from the presidency of his local Rotary Club to membership on the Board of Governors of the American Research Center in Egypt, to service on several committees at Beaumont at Bryn Mawr. He served on the boards of Monmouth College, the Area Council for Economic Education, the Valley Forge Council of the Boy Scouts of America, and the Foundation for Studies of Modern Science. He also chaired the Board of Trustees of International House at 37th and Chestnut Streets, where he was a donor. He was devoted to the Episcopal Academy in Newtown Square, PA, where he was an alumnus and class valedictorian. Having attended the school on a singing scholarship–an avocation he exercised as a member of Mask and Wig–Mr. Mainwaring did all he could to serve Episcopal as a volunteer and benefactor. He participated on numerous boards and initiatives there and in 2007 made the largest gift to date in the school’s history. For his numerous contributions, in 2003 Episcopal bestowed upon him its 1785 Bowl Award, the school’s highest honor for service and generosity.

A celebration of Mr. Mainwaring’s life will be held at the Class of 1944 Chapel at Episcopal Academy in Newtown Square on Saturday, October 15, 2022, at 10:30 a.m.  

He is survived by his wife, Peggy, ED’47, HON’85, a Trustee Emerita; their children, Elizabeth, CW’76, Susan, CW’72, G’76; and Scott C’75; and his grandchildren. In lieu of flowers, donations in Mr. Mainwaring’s memory to any of the institutions mentioned above would be appreciated.