THOMAS V. Lefevre was the consummate professional, senior partner of one of the city's most prestigious law firms, chairman of UGI Corp. and a member of the boards of numerous corporations and civic organizations.

But he had a somewhat frisky, imaginative side, expressed in the stories he made up to tease and tantalize his children and grandchildren.

"He was very self-disciplined, but to me he had a very wonderful imagination," said his daughter Sherry Lefevre, who was entertained by those stories as a child and by the little rituals her father engaged in to charm his offspring. "He was very inventive."

What did he do for fun?

"He worked for fun," his daughter said. "He raised a family for fun."

Thomas Lefevre, a former senior partner of Morgan, Lewis & Bockius before taking over the energy company UGI in 1977, and a Marine combat officer in the South Pacific in World War II, died June 29. He was 90 and lived in Rosemont.

"He had to work hard to make his way," Sherry said. "He was proud of having had a successful professional life."

"He had a great social conscience," said Stuart Odell, longtime friend and former associate at Morgan, Lewis & Bockius. "He gave a lot of time to nonprofits and charities. He was a wonderful man."

"He was a very special person to me," Odell added. "I met him in 1966, when I was just out of law school. He interviewed me for a job at MLB and became my mentor for many years.

"He was a wonderfully brilliant lawyer, a great man."

Thomas Lefevre was born in Dallas, Tex., and grew up in St. Petersburg, Fla. It was in high school that he met his future wife, Lillian Bourne. They were married in 1947.

He served as a captain in the 14th Marine Regiment, 3rd Battalion, and participated in the invasions of Roi-Namur, Iwo Jima, Saipan and Tinian. He attained the rank of major.

After the war, he obtained a master's degree in tax law from Harvard Law School. He then joined the law firm of Sullivan & Cromwell in New York City as an associate.

He went to work for the IRS in Detroit before moving to Washington in 1951 to join former Sen. Claude Pepper in private law practice.

He joined the law firm of Paul, Weiss, Rifkind, Wharton & Garrison in Washington in the early '50s.

In 1955, he moved to the Philadelphia area and went to work with Morgan, Lewis & Bockius. The family lived in Wynnewood, then moved to Rosemont in 1961.

At age 61, Thomas took on a new challenge. He became president and chief executive officer of UGI, headquartered in Valley Forge.

An article about his move in the Inquirer led with: "At age 61, a time when many executives gaze at life from a sunny Southern golf course, Thomas V. Lefevre has entered the corporate fast lane."

Golfing in the sunny South was never Thomas Lefevre's style. He like to work and he liked challenges.

"For purely personal reasons I am trying to see how much I can accomplish," he was quoted. "It's really a tremendous challenge - like playing Monopoly. I love it."

He retired as chairman of the UGI board in 1988.

Thomas was a board member of many companies and civic, cultural and educational entities, including the Agnes Irwin School, the Philadelphia Zoo, the Franklin Institute, WHYY, the University of the Arts, Fox Chase Cancer Center, Geothermal Resources and others.

As a family man he had no peer, his daughter said.

"You know the saying, 'Father knows best'? He made that true," she said. "He set a high standard for the family."

Besides his wife and daughter, he is survived by two sons, Eugene and Nick Lefevre; another daughter, Margot Sunshine; eight grandchildren, and one great-grandchild.

Services: 2 p.m. Tuesday at Beaumont at Bryn Mawr, 601 N. Ithan Ave., Bryn Mawr. *