Madeira, Percy C. (Percy Childs), 1889-1967.

Percy Childs Madeira, Jr. was born on 8 February 1889 in Philadelphia the son coal merchant Percy C. Madeira, Sr. and Marie V. Marie. Percy attended the Delancey School in Philadelphia and graduated from Harvard University in 1910. Upon his return to Philadelphia, he entered the Law School of the University of Pennsylvania and graduated in 1913.

Slightly more than six months after graduating from Harvard University, Percy Madeira enlisted as a private in the First City Troop (or First Troop Philadelphia City Calvary) of the Pennsylvania Army National Guard. When his enlistment expired in February 1914, he reenlisted for another five years. In July of 1916 he was mustered into Federal Service during the Mexican Expedition after which he became a corporal. Shortly after the entry of the United States in World War I, Madeira accepted a commission in the Reserve Officers' Training Corps and eventually rose to the rank of captain by the time of his discharge in December 1918.

Madeira's career was varied. He was admitted to the Pennsylvania bar in 1913 and worked for the firm of Morgan, Lewis and Bockius until World War I. After his army service, Madeira became a partner in the firm of Ballard, Spahr, Andrews and Madeira where he remained until 1927 when he went into the family anthracite and bituminous coal business, Madeira, Hill and Company. In 1934, Madeira returned the legal field as the head of the trust department for The Real Estate-Land Title and Trust Company. He eventually became president of the bank (later called the Tradesmens Bank and Trust Company) for thirteen years.

The fields of anthropology and archaeology were where Percy Madeira's passions lie. He returned the University of Pennsylvania in the 1930s to attend graduate school and received his master's degree in anthropology in 1933. In 1930 he and J. Alden Mason were part of a University of Pennsylvania expedition to take aerial photographs of Maya sites in the Yucatan and Guatemala. That same year, Madeira was elected a member of the Board of Managers of the University of Pennsylvania Museum of Archaeology and Anthropology. He continued to serve on the board until 1966 as both vice president (1933-1941) and president (1942-1962). Madeira wrote a history of the Museum in 1964. He received an honorary doctorate degree from the University of Pennsylvania in 1962.

Percy C. Madeira, Jr. died at his home in Berwyn, Pennsylvania on 29 January 1967. He married first in 1914 to Margaret Townsend Carey (1891-1951) and second in 1952 to Eugenia Cassatt Davis (1897-1979). He had three children: Percy Childs Madeira, 3rd, Francis King Carey Madeira, and Eleanor Irwin Carey Madeira.

From the description of Papers, 1863-1962 (bulk 1916-1933). (University of Pennsylvania). WorldCat record id: 697326077