James S. Bishop, 73, of Germantown, retired owner of the former Main Line furniture store O’Neill & Bishop, died Sept. 18 off Long Beach Township, N.J., in what authorities reported as a drowning.
Mr. Bishop had left his home on Long Beach Island about 4:30 p.m. Sunday. An unidentified surfer, in a 911 call at 5:39 p.m., said he had pulled the body from the ocean, according to the Ocean County prosecutor’s office. A medical examiner later ruled the death as a drowning.
Born in Phoenixville, Mr. Bishop was a graduate of Conestoga High School. He had studied in Reading, England, in his junior year. He earned a bachelor’s degree in history at Trinity College in Hartford, Conn., where he was a member of the crew and the fraternity St. Anthony Hall.
During the Vietnam War, Mr. Bishop served as a deck officer on the aircraft carrier Ticonderoga while it was engaged in combat there.
Mr. Bishop began his career in 1969 as a showroom manager in Center City for Baker Furniture of Grand Rapids, Mich., and in 1973 joined his family firm, O’Neill & Bishop Furniture Co., at Suburban Square in Ardmore. Mr. Bishop was co-owner of the store with his father, Francis. The firm later moved to Haverford, where James Bishop closed it in the mid-1990s.
Mr. Bishop was a former president of the Suburban Square Business Association and the Ardmore Rotary Club.
Mr. Bishop was a parishioner at the Memorial Church of the Good Shepherd in East Falls and a member of its vestry in the early 1990s
He retired in 2016 after 10 years as board secretary at Wyck, the historic house, garden and farm in Germantown and in 2014 completed 10 years as a board member for the Pennsylvania School for the Deaf in Germantown.
He was a leader of the St. Andrew’s Society of Philadelphia and, for a time, a trustee of its foundation.
He is survived by his wife of 46 years, Margaret: a son, William; two sisters; and two grandchildren.
Memorial services will be held at 11 a.m. Saturday, Oct. 8, at the Memorial Church of the Good Shepherd, 3820 The Oak Road in East Falls.
Memorial donations may be sent to the St. Andrew’s Society of Philadelphia, 215 S. 16th St., Philadelphia 19102. – WF
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