G. Willing Pepper

Who was G. Willing Pepper?

G. Willing Pepper, known as “Wing” was a corporate executive, the former president of the Scott Paper Company, and a notable Philadelphia philanthropist. He combined active philanthropy with the use of commercial skills to improve public health.

Pepper was a member of an Old Line Philadelphia family, and prepped at St. Mark's School of Southborough before attending the University of Pennsylvania. He became treasurer and a director of Scott Paper in 1940. After service in the Navy in the Pacific during World War II, he rose to vice chairman and oversaw the swift growth of Scott Paper's overseas operations.

After retiring from Scott Paper, he served a vice chairman of the Fox Chase Cancer Center's Institute for cancer research. In his honor. Fox Chase established a Wing Pepper Chair in Cancer Research in 1999, in part because Pepper was credited by Fox Chase for significant work bringing the first hepatitis B vaccine, invented at Fox Chase, into commercial development.