Tom Corcoran, 82, of Philadelphia, retired president of the Delaware River Waterfront Corp., founding president and former chief executive officer of the old Cooper’s Ferry Development Association in Camden, former business administrator for the city of Camden, onetime Peace Corps program director in West Africa, mentor, and poetry enthusiast, died Sunday, Aug. 30, of complications from dementia at his home in Center City.
Born in Chicago and a graduate of Loyola University Chicago, Mr. Corcoran earned a master’s degree in public administration at the University of Pennsylvania’s Wharton School in 1975 and never strayed far from the Delaware River after that. He spent 25 years, from 1984 to 2009, as president and CEO of the Cooper’s Ferry Development Association on the Camden waterfront, and eight years, from 2009 to 2017, as president of the Delaware River Waterfront Corp. in Philadelphia.
He championed what he called “the two cities, one waterfront strategy” and was especially adept, former colleagues said, at political maneuvering and marshaling funds and projects. Former colleagues on both sides of the Delaware called him “a tireless public servant,” “a visionary urban planner,” and an “economic development strategist with short-term practicality and long-term vision.”
In Camden, Mr. Corcoran added more than $550 million of investments to the waterfront area and oversaw the development of what is now the Freedom Mortgage Pavilion, the Adventure Aquarium, Wiggins Waterfront Park, the Riverlink Ferry, several office buildings, and other projects. Another New Jersey developer called him a “cult figure” among state lawmakers.
He said education as well as development was key to building a strong local economy and told The Inquirer in 2006: “Until Camden has a good-quality education system, we’re not going to be able to attract families with school-age children back to the city.”
Dana L. Redd, former Camden mayor and current president and CEO of Camden Community Partnership, said on Facebook that Mr. Corcoran often slept on a cot in his Camden office and left daily handwritten messages that his project managers called “love notes.” Redd said: “He challenged a generation of urban leaders to think bigger, believe in Camden, and dream about what the city could become.”
In Philadelphia, he initiated the Race Street and Washington Avenue pier parks, the Spruce Street Harbor Park, a miles-long bike and walking trail, and the I-95 overpass park to reconnect Center City with its waterfront. “The more we look at the concept of one waterfront, two states, the more opportunities we’re going to find,” he said when he left Camden for Philadelphia in 2009.
When he retired in 2017, he said: “Instead of swinging for the fences, we decided we would hit singles and doubles and bunts and sacrifices, steal bases, and do whatever we could. Eventually, we thought, we’d always get back to the center.”
Longtime colleague and friend Bill Hankowsky said: “It is truly unique that a single individual could have the vast impact across two facing waterfronts in the center of one of the country’s major urban metros.”
Earlier, Mr. Corcoran served nine years, from 1975 to 1984, in Camden city government, rising from administrative aide to business administrator. In 2001, he earned a Good Neighbor Award from the Camden County chapter of the American Red Cross for his “integral role in the revitalization of the city.”
In the 1960s, Mr. Corcoran joined the Peace Corps after college and spent seven years in Africa building dams and wells with local farmers. He spoke French and the local African language, and rose to program director.
“What an exemplary life he led,” a former Peace Corps colleague said in a tribute, “without fanfare or drama and always with service to others.”
Off the waterfront, Mr. Corcoran was enthralled by poetry and his Irish heritage. He liked to recite lines from Ulysses and other poems, and sing songs from the old country.
“He was a true Renaissance man who had a remarkable vision for communities and people,” a former colleague said. Former colleague John Grady said: ”Tom was a giant, unassuming, persistent force for the local community.”
Thomas Patrick Corcoran was born May 13, 1944. He earned a bachelor’s degree in political science at Loyola in Chicago and rode camels to work in Africa during his time in the Peace Corps.
He met Robin Lowey at a dinner society event, and they married in 2003, and lived in Camden and Philadelphia. They enjoyed traveling and dining together, and hashing over world affairs.
In 2009, he said he often peered through a telescope at the Philadelphia waterfront from his home in Camden and wondered how he would develop Penn’s Landing. “He’s the one who brought together the business leaders and was able to steer through difficult political waters,” then-Camden County freeholder Jeffrey Nash said in 2009.
His wife said: “He was a kind and generous gentleman. He was a good, nice person.”
In addition to his wife, Mr. Corcoran is survived by three sisters, a brother, and other relatives.
Services were held Thursday.
Donations in his name may be made to the Caplan Caring Difference Fund at the Penn Memory Center, Office of the Treasurer, Box 71332, Philadelphia, Pa. 19176.
