Fitz Eugene Dixon, Jr.

Infobox_Person
name = Fitz Eugene Dixon, Jr.


imagesize =
caption =
birth_date = birth date|1923|8|14
birth_place = Winter Harbor, Maine
United States flagicon|USA
death_date = death date and age|2006|8|2|1923|8|14|mf=y
death_place = Abington, Pennsylvania flagicon|USA
resting_place = Laurel Hill Cemetery, Philadelphia
residence =
education = Episcopal Academy, Harvard University
occupation = Educator, sportsman, philanthropist
party =
spouse = Edith B. Robb
children = Edith Eleanor "Ellin" Dixon
George Widener Dixon
parents = Fitz Eugene Dixon, Sr. &
Eleanor Widener
religion = Episcopalian

Fitz Eugene Dixon, Jr. (August 14, 1923, Winter Harbor, Maine – August 2, 2006) was an American educator, sportsman, and philanthropist.

He was the son of banker Fitz Eugene Dixon, Sr. and his wife Eleanor Widener, a daughter of George D. Widener, a member of the wealthy Philadelphia Widener family who died on the RMS "Titanic" in 1912. Fitz Jr. graduated from Philadelphia's Episcopal Academy, then Harvard University, after which he returned to Episcopal to teach English, French, and Health; he also coached the school's squash, tennis, and 120-pound football teams and served as director of athletics and assistant to the headmaster.

On the 1971 death of his childless uncle, George Dunton Widener, Jr., Fitz Eugene Dixon, Jr. inherited his uncle's entire estate, including the 500-acre Erdenheim Farm in Whitemarsh Township, Pennsylvania, and took over the running of the Widener Foundation. The Widener fortune, amassed in the meat-packing and streetcar businesses, saw Fitz Eugene Dixon, Jr. listed in "Forbes" Magazine's 400 Richest Americans in 1985, 1991, and 1995.

One of his best-known civic accomplishments was the 1976 purchase of the Love Statue that currently stands at the head of John F. Kennedy Plaza in Center City Philadelphia. Dixon purchased the statue from the Robert Indiana studio after the artist had removed it from the city, after it failed to come up with the $45,000 he had sought for its purchase. Dixon bought the statue for $35,000 and gave it to the city. The plaza has since come to be known popularly as LOVE Park.

Dixon became an owner and investor of Philadelphia professional sports franchises, including the Eagles, the Phillies, the Flyers, and the Wings, but his most notable sports investment was the Philadelphia 76ers. Dixon purchased the team in 1976 from Irv Kosloff for $8 million and a few months later brought Julius "Dr. J." Erving to town for $6.6 million. In the short time he owned the team, it made it to the finals twice but never won a championship. He sold the team to Harold Katz in 1981.

Dixon bred Thoroughbred racehorses at Erdenheim Farm, and was a member and one time Chairman of the Pennsylvania Horse Racing Commission. He was a member of the association that owned Man o' War. Fact|date=September 2008

He served on the boards of the Fairmount Park Commission, the Philadelphia Art Commission, and the Delaware River Port Authority, and was at times chairman of all three.

He also served on the boards of several universities, including as chairman at Widener University, Lafayette College, Philadelphia College of Art, and Temple University. He was also selected in 1982 as the founding chairman the board of governors of the State System of Higher Education, which was founded to bring together several former teachers' colleges and Indiana University of Pennsylvania. In 1993, the system's headquarters, the Dixon University Center, was named in his honor.

Dixon died of melanoma on August 2, 2006, in Abington, Pennsylvania, near Philadelphia, where he was interred in the Widener family mausoleum in Laurel Hill Cemetery. [ [http://www.encyclopedia-titanica.org/widener_family.html "The Wideners: An American Family"] , "Encyclopedia Titanica".]

References

External links

*Find A Grave|id=15136239
* [http://www.chestnuthilllocal.com/issues/2006.08.10/news5.html Obituary] at the "Chestnut Hill Local"
* [http://abclocal.go.com/wpvi/story?section=76ers&id=4427639 Obituary] at 6abc.com
* [http://www.temple.edu/temple_times/summer06/dixon.html Obituary] at Temple University
* [http://www.nytimes.com/2006/08/05/sports/basketball/05dixon.html?_r=1&oref=slogin Obituary] at the "New York Times"