Israel Durham

Israel Wilson Durham

• Born October 24, 1855 in Philadelphia, PA USA
• Died June 28, 1909 in Atlantic City, NJ USA

Biographical Information

Israel Durham was a prominent politician from Pennsylvania who briefly was the principal of the Philadelphia Phillies before his untimely death in 1909.

Born and raised in Philadelphia, PA, he worked in various trades before joining his father's flour-trading business. However, his main interest was politics, and he was first elected a police magistrate in 1883, before first serving in the Pennsylvania Senate starting in 1897. He was a delegate to the Republican Party National Convention in 1900, 1904 and 1908, and was appointed the state's Insurance Commissioner during that period, serving from 1899 to 1905. After resigning his positions for health reasons in 1906, he returned to the Senate in 1908. During that time he was considered to be one of Philadelphia's most influential political bosses.

In February of 1909, he was the head of a group that bought the Phillies and was named team President, replacing William Shettsline. However, he died a mere four months later at his summer residence in Atlantic City, NJ. It was the second death of a National League team owner in a matter of days, following that of George Dovey, President of the Boston Doves, on June 19th. Like he had done for Dovey, League President Harry Pulliam declared a day of mourning during his funeral on July 1st, with no games played that day. Sadly, Pulliam would himself die before the end of the summer, by his own hand.

His sister was married to prominent architect Phillip H. Johnson.

Related Sites

• Biography from the Pennsylvania State Senate