Born: 27-Dec-1719
Birthplace: Andover, MA
Died: 21-Apr-1795
Location of death: Exeter, NH
Cause of death: Infection
Remains: Buried, Exeter Cemetery, Exeter, NH

Gender: Male
Religion: Calvinist
Race or Ethnicity: White
Sexual orientation: Straight
Occupation: Educator

Nationality: United States
Executive summary: Founder of Phillips Exeter Academy

John Phillips was the founder and principal benefactor in cash and land for Phillips Exeter Academy in Exeter, New Hampshire, incorporated 3 April 1781 and first opened for classes on 20 February 1783. He studied theology and medicine, taught in private and public schools, operated a small store, and amassed great wealth through his marriage to a wealthy widower. He was an ordained minister but never led a church, and he was a military man -- commander of the Exeter Cadets, a local militia described in contemporary accounts as the best-drilled in the province -- but he neither took arms nor took sides in the American Revolutionary War. His nephew, Samuel Phillips, Jr., was the founder of Phillips Academy Andover, and John Phillips also gave generous endowments to that institution. He died childless, and left two-thirds of his fortune to Phillips Exeter and one-third to Phillips Academy at Andover.

Father: Samuel Phillips (Christian minister, b. 17-Feb-1690, d. 5-Jun-1771)
Mother: Hannah White Phillips (m. 17-Jun-1712, d. 7-Jan-1773)
Daughter: Lydia Phillips
Daughter: Mary Phillips
Son: Samuel Phillips
Son: William Phillips (merchant, b. 6-Jul-1722, d. 15-Jan-1804)
Wife: Sarah Emery Gilman Phillips (m. 4-Aug-1743, d. 9-Oct-1765, no children)
Wife: Elizabeth Dennett Hale (m. 3-Nov-1767, d. circa 1797, no children)

    University: Harvard University (1708)
    Law School: LLD, Harvard University
    Administrator: Founder, Phillips Exeter Academy
    Administrator: Benefactor, Phillips Academy Andover
    Administrator: Benefactor, Harvard University
    Administrator: Benefactor, Princeton University
    Administrator: Trustee, Dartmouth College

    Ordained
    English Ancestry

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