Source: Pennsylvania, A History, George P. Donehoo, (New York: Lewis Historical Publishing Co., 1926), p. 174
Surnames: Keppelman, Arthur, Sternbergh
In presenting to the public the representative men of Reading and the State of Pennsylvania, who by superior force of character and energy, together with a combination of qualities of natural ability and excellence have made themselves conspicuous and commanding in public and private life, we have no finer example to present than John Arthur Keppelman, a leading attorney of Reading, Pennsylvania. Not only has he risen high in his profession in Pennsylvania, but he also possesses those excellencies of human nature that make men worthy of the highest regard among their fellowmen in their daily contact with each other. Mr. Keppelman is a self-made man in the truest and best sense of the word. His professional life is always a full and busy one, his everyday affairs making heavy demands upon his time, yet he never shrinks from his duty as a citizen on his obligation to his State and Nation.
John Arthur Keppelman, son of John H. and Mary E. (Arthur) Keppelman, was born in Reading, June 18, 1877, and after receiving there a public school education, graduated with honors from the High School for Boys with the class of 1895, of which he was the class orator. Preparatory to entering Yale University he entered Phillips Academy at Andover, Massachusetts, where he graduated in 1897. He entered Yale in 1897 and graduated there in 1901, receiving the degree of Bachelor of Arts. At Andover and at Yale he was one of the most prominent men of his time. He was well known as a scholar and an athlete, was awarded prizes for oratory and literary work, and he belonged to the most exclusive undergraduate societies at Yale, notably Skull and Bones, probably the most highly regarded college secret society in the United States. He was socially prominent at Yale, and took a leading part in maintaining the ideals of that institution. Ever since graduation he has maintained the keenest interest in his preparatory school and his alma mater, and has been instrumental in sending a number of boys to both. From Yale he went to Harvard University in 1901, and graduated from the Harvard Law School in 1904, with the degree of Bachelor of Laws. Intending to permanently practice his profession in New York City, he entered the offices of Simpson, Thatcher & Bartlett there in 1904, and while with them was identified with the organization and management of some of the largest and most prosperous corporation and public utilities in the country. He remained with them until 1907, and was admitted to the New York bar in 1906. Though rising steadily in his profession in New York he yielded to the persuasion of his family to establish himself in Reading, and giving up the promise of a brilliant career in New York he came to Reading in 1907, where, after a brief association with the late Isaac Hiester, Esq., he was admitted to the Pennsylvania and Berks County bars in 1907. He opened his own offices in Reading in 1907, and this city has since been the center of his professional and business activities. His early practice was general in character, tending later to specialization in corporation law, in which field he has attained the reputation of one of the leaders of the Pennsylvania bar.
Mr. Keppelman's professional and business activities are wide and varied. He has been identified with some of the most important litigations in Southeastern Pennsylvania. He has been and is counsel for numerous manufacturing and industrial corporations, banks, and public utilities, including gas, street railway, electric, and water companies, in some of which he is also a director and an officer. He was instrumental in the drafting of the Public Service Company Law of Pennsylvania, and other legislation affecting public service companies. He is regarded as an authority on public service company law in Pennsylvania.
It was through Mr. Keppelman's efforts that the first extension of Reading's territorial boundaries in fifty years was made by the annexation of an extensive outlying district now constituting the eighteenth ward. The precedent he established was used in subsequent annexations. In 1918, 1919 and 1920 he was a member of the Executive Committee of the Pennsylvania Bar Association. During the World War he was Federal Food Administrator for Berks County, and in that capacity succeeded in cementing the people of the County in a common purpose to conserve food products with loyalty to the Federal administration. Recently he was appointed chairman of the Citizens' Committee having in charge the first National Defense Day celebration, which was a signal success and which firmly established the purposes of that day. He was a member of the board of directors of the Young Men's Christian Association. He has been for some years a member of the Chamber of Commerce of the United States, and has been the representative of the Reading Chamber of Commerce and the city of Reading at its annual conventions.
Mr. Keppelman is an ardent sportsman. He recently organized the Berks County Rod and Gun Association, and through it has been able to replenish the fields and streams of Berks County with game and fish. As a book-lover he is widely known, and he has what is probably one of the finest private libraries in Pennsylvania. He has devoted much time to the selection of original editions and rare bindings.
Mr. Keppelman has delivered many public and semi-public addresses upon political and literary subjects. He is a gifted public speaker, and possesses singular charm and magnetism. His addresses are full of inspiration and evidences of unusual culture. His public utterances are free from equivocation and are marked by directness of statement and conviction.
Upon the death of Mr. Keppelman's father, August 9, 1924, he was chosen as president of the Consumers' Gas Company, of which he was formerly a director and general counsel. His knowledge of public service companies, his grasp of local conditions, and the high respect which is held for him by the people of Reading make him especially fitted to fill this responsible position.
Mr. Keppelman is a member of the American, Pennsylvania, and Berks County Bar associations, Yale Chapter of the Psi Upsilon Fraternity, the Wyomissing Club, the Berkshire Country Club, the Yale Clubs of Philadelphia and New York, the University Clubs of Reading and Philadelphia, the Pennsylvania German Society, the Historical Society of Berks County, the Pennsylvania Society of New York, American Academy of Political and Social Science, Academy of Political Science of New York, Reading Chamber of Commerce, Engineers' Society of Pennsylvania, Congressional Country Club of Washington, American Economic Association, American Society of International Law, and numerous other associations. He is also a member of St. John's Lodge, No. 435, Free and Accepted Masons, of which he is a Past Master, and Scottish Rite Bodies, Chapter and Commandery, and Council, and Rajah Temple. He is also a member of Reading Lodge, No. 155, Benevolent and Protective Order of Elks.
In National and State politics he is a Republican, and though he has been independent in local politics, has never cared to accept office, but has preferred to devote his time to professional and business affairs. He is an Episcopalian, and is a member of Christ Episcopal Church, of Reading.
On March 19, 1907, Mr. Keppelman married Harriet May Sternbergh, daughter of the late James Hervey Sternbergh, president of the American Iron and Steel Manufacturing Company, which was later purchased by the Bethlehem Steel Company, a sketch of whom follows. Mr. and Mrs. Keppelman have had five children, all boys, four of whom are living, as follows: John Arthur, Jr., Arthur Conrad, Richard Schuyler and Robert May. Pearl Lambert died in 1914. Both Mr. and Mrs. Keppelman are firm believers in living their daily lives with their children, and their relations with their children are an example to the community.
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