J Mahlon Buck Jr

J. Mahlon Buck Jr., 85, who helped build pharmaceutical businesses and who was an owner of the Phillies, died of heart disease Wednesday, March 16 2011, at home in Bryn Mawr Pennsylvania. In 1981, Mr. Buck and his two brothers were among the limited partners who bought the Phillies from the Carpenter family for $30.2 million. According to published reports, the Bucks' share at the time was about 30 percent. The Phillies were an integral part of Mr. Buck's life, his daughter, Caroline Rogers, said. In 1948, Mr. Buck began his business career in wholesale drug distribution with Smith Kline & French. The company, now GlaxoSmithKline, was founded by his ancestors in 1830. Mr. Buck and his brothers, Alexander and William, bought the wholesale division of Smith Kline in 1965 and renamed it Drug House Inc. He was chairman of Drug House and, after it was sold to Alco Standard in 1977, he became chairman of Alco Health Services Division. For the next decade, he helped the company buy wholesale drug firms throughout the country. Alco Health eventually went public as AmeriSource Health Corp. in 1995 and in 2001 merged to become AmerisourceBergen, one of the nation's largest pharmaceutical-services providers. Mr. Buck and his brothers founded TDH Capital Corp, a venture capital holding company in Radnor. The company invested founding capital in a number of firms, including ESPN, Airgas, Staples, and Intelligent Electronics. He remained active in the company. Mr. Buck graduated from the Haverford School and attended Princeton University before enlisting in the Army during World War II. After his discharge, he earned a bachelor's degree from Princeton. Since 1953, Mr. Buck had been married to Elia Durr Buck. They met at a wholesale drug convention, where she was working for her father, who also was in the pharmaceutical business. In addition to his wife and daughter, Mr. Buck is survived by a son, James III; six grandchildren; and his brother William. His brother Alexander died in October. A daughter, Anne, died in 1975.