David Charles Auten (C’60, L’63), University of Pennsylvania Trustee, died peacefully at his Society Hill residence on May 9 from complications due to Parkinson’s Disease. He was 82.

Born in the Frankford section of the city, Mr. Auten attended Frankford High School and earned his undergraduate degree in 1960 and law degree in 1963 from Penn, during which time he served as editor of the Law Review.

He went on to spend 50 years in the legal field, including serving as the managing partner of the Philadelphia office of Reed Smith LLP for 16 years. His practice was devoted to real estate, banking, health care and international law. He was listed in Best Lawyers in America, Who’s Who in the World, and Philadelphia Leaders, and he was a member of the American College of Real Estate Lawyers.

Mr. Auten served on Penn’s Board of Trustees from 1977 to 1988, as a member of the Board for UPHS (now Penn Medicine), as an overseer of SAS, President of the General Alumni Society, Chair of Annual Giving and president of the Interfraternity Alumni Council. In 1981, he received the Penn Alumni Award of Merit. Board of Trustees Chair David L. Cohen and President Amy Gutmann noted his extraordinary service and his great generosity, which included the establishment of two funds to support research, patient care and education related to Parkinson’s disease, as well as his support of reunion giving and the Sweeten Alumni House.

Mr. Auten was a longtime trustee and chair of the Board of Penn Presbyterian Medical Center. President Gutmann and Mr. Cohen noted that his sensitivity to Penn’s and Presbyterian’s interests was invaluable when Presbyterian became part of the UPHS in 1995. He also served as the chair of the board of both the Presbyterian Foundation for Philadelphia and its related NewCourtland Elder Services. He was also a director of the Philadelphia chapter of the French-American Chamber of Commerce, which he helped found in 1989; a president of Philadelphia’s Union League and a director and chair of its Abraham Lincoln Foundation to maintain historic collections; and a board member of Philadelphia’s Committee of Seventy, the Greater Philadelphia International Network, St. Peter’s School, Springside School, the Philadelphia City Institute of the Free Library of Philadelphia and the Theta Xi National Fraternity and Foundation. He was also a Trustee Emeritus and former Rector’s Warden of historic Christ Church in Philadelphia.

NewCourtland Elder Services dedicated the auditorium in its newly opened Education Center as Auten Hall in 2004 and awarded him the Ephraim D. Saunders Award. He also received the inaugural Hospital Hero Award of Penn Presbyterian Medical Center in 2011, and honorary membership in the Friars Senior Society, in 1977 for his outstanding work, enthusiasm and commitment to Penn as president of the General Alumni Society.

Mr. Auten is survived by his wife, Suzanne Crozier Plowman; daughters, Anne Crozier Auten, (C’92, James Wyman) and Meredith Smedley Auten (C’96, L’99); grandchildren James Auten Wyman, Bridget McKee Wyman and Katherine Crozier Wyman; and brother Donald. (Judith).

Burial will be private. The family will hold a Celebration of Life in the fall.