A memorial service will be held next month for Philip Stern, a well-known Canton retailer who helped carry on the family business, Stern & Mann department store.
Mr. Stern died Sept. 13 at his home at Atwood Lake. He was 84.
Stern & Mann, founded in 1887, operated at Tuscarawas Street West and Cleveland Avenue in downtown Canton for decades before moving to the Belden Village area.
A lifelong Canton resident, Mr. Stern was born July 28, 1929, to Karl and Nell Stern. He attended Belle Stone Elementary and graduated from McKinley High School in 1947.
He then attended Bowdoin College in Maine, graduating in 1952, and received his masters degree in International Affairs from Columbia University in New York City. After military service in France, Mr. Stern returned to Canton and joined the family business in 1957.
Mr. Stern was a member of St. Mark’s Episcopal Church in Canton and a 50-year member of the Canton YMCA. He enjoyed running through Canton’s parks and competed in the New York City Marathon and the Boston Marathon.
A longtime lover of musical theater, Mr. Stern enjoyed Broadway productions during his buying trips to New York City.
A love of sailing led Mr. Stern and his wife, the former Elizabeth Ann Aungst, to move from North Canton to Atwood Lake in 1989. He became Commodore of the Atwood Yacht Club.
After retirement, the Sterns enjoyed train travel across the United States and Canada in addition to sailing on their boat, the QE II, before her death in 2001.
Mr. Stern is survived by three children: daughter Margaret Gotschall, widow of Kevin Gotschall, of Streetsboro; daughter Mary and her husband, Walter Meneses, of Bowling Green; and son Tim Stern, and his wife, Brenda, of Perry Township; and nine grandchildren.
Friends and family will attend a celebration of life Oct. 5 at Rossi Funeral Home in Canton.