Poised to lead SRC, lawyer praised for local role

Robert L. Archie Jr., who is in line to be the next chairman of the School Reform Commission, started one of the earliest minority-owned law firms in the city in 1976 and is known as a "consensus" builder, longtime business associates said yesterday.

Archie, 64, a resident of the Mount Airy area and a graduate of the Philadelphia School District, also has been active on education boards. He serves on the Universal Charter School Board - which he likely would have to leave if his SRC appointment goes through - and the board of trustees of Lincoln University, a historically black college in Chester County.

He's described as a "senior statesman" in the legal community and has mentored young minority lawyers.

"He's one of the trailblazers for many of us," said Michael Pratt, a partner at the law firm of Pepper Hamilton and immediate past chancellor of the Philadelphia Bar Association.

Archie did not return calls for comment yesterday.

Gov. Rendell and Mayor Nutter plan to announce Archie as the next chair of the five-member commission at a news conference Saturday. They also will announce at least two other picks for the board.

Archie would replace Sandra Dungee Glenn. Dungee Glenn, president of the American Cities Foundation, and Martin Bednarek, a Northeast banker, have been informed that they will not be reappointed to the commission. James Gallagher, former president of Philadelphia University, left the board when his term expired in January.

Al Taubenberger, Nutter's Republican opponent in the 2007 mayoral race and president of the Northeast Chamber of Commerce, has emerged as a likely candidate for one of the seats, sources have said.

Heidi Ramirez, director of the urban education collaborative at Temple University, is likely to be reappointed, sources have said.

Rendell's and Nutter's press offices declined to comment yesterday.

Taubenberger said yesterday that he would be interested in the post but had not discussed the SRC with Nutter or anyone in his administration.

"He knows of my interest in education," Taubenberger, 55, said yesterday. "Education has always been very important to me."

Archie is married and has two adult daughters who attended the private Springside School in Chestnut Hill.

Nolan N. Atkinson Jr., who with Archie formed Atkinson & Archie in 1976, said he was heartened to hear of his colleague's pick.

Atkinson described Archie as the "consummate professional who cares greatly about Philadelphia."

"He will try very hard to lead by consensus and to be nonconfrontational," Atkinson said. "He will have goals and objectives, and he will attempt to accomplish them."

Atkinson - who recalled discussing legal issues with Archie in the early '70s while riding the subway to Temple University's law school, where both were teaching - said he had seen Archie in the lunchroom yesterday and congratulated him.

"He smiled and said, 'Thank you,' " Atkinson said. Both men are now partners at Duane Morris.

Archie, who specializes in municipal finance and bond, real estate. and corporate law, received his bachelor's degree from Lincoln in 1965 and his law degree from Howard University School of Law in 1970.

For the last two years, he was a Senate Democratic caucus appointee to the Pennsylvania Intergovernmental Cooperation Authority, where he impressed his colleagues with deliberation. His term expired in January, and he was not reappointed, which surprised his colleagues.

"He was a wiz on financial matters," said Bill Leonard, vice chairman of PICA and a partner at the law firm Obermayer, Rebmann, Maxwell & Hippel.

"He was a take-charge kind of guy, particularly in making his points and decisive in his action."

A Democrat, Archie has donated to several state candidates over the years, including Democratic State Rep. Dwight Evans, chairman of the House Appropriations Committee. Since 2005, Archie has contributed $17,300 to Evans' campaigns.