Maree Phillips Regan, 85, volunteer and fund-raiser

Maree Phillips Regan, 85, of Berwyn, a volunteer and innovative fund-raiser for numerous organizations, died Thursday, Oct. 20, of a heart attack at Harlee Manor in Springfield, Delaware County.

In 1978, Mrs. Regan, a member of the board of the Pennsylvania Ballet, was chairwoman of a "Closet Cooks and Happy Hoofers" party to benefit the ballet. The event featured disco dancing and cooking demonstrations by Billy Cunningham, coach of the 76ers, and Sen. John Heinz and his wife, Teresa. The guest list included the Muppets' Miss Piggy and her Swedish chef.

Three years later, Mrs. Regan oversaw the Pennsylvania Ballet's "Balletics '81," an athletic-themed gala that featured fencing and judo exhibitions. One of the event's organizer's was Jack Kelly, an Olympic medalist in rowing, whose sister Princess Grace of Monaco was the guest of honor.

In 1980, Mrs. Regan organized "An Extraordinary Evening of Oriental Opulence" to benefit International House of Philadelphia, decorated for the evening with giant Japanese paper fish. Partygoers played Japanese and Chinese games and watched performances by Korean dancers and a karate demonstration. Guests' names were calligraphed on chopsticks, and the black organdy tablecloths were made by Mrs. Regan and her committee.

She often created clever ensembles to wear to events, her son Michael said. In 2002, for an Academy of Music ball, she made a gown reminiscent of those worn when the academy was built in 1857.

With the roadside flowers she collected, Mrs. Regan made arrangements for her benefits, her son said. Once, for a Pennsylvania Ballet gala with an Arctic theme, she recruited her then-teenage son and a friend to be doormen dressed as polar bears.

Mrs. Regan was active on the social scene in the Philadelphia region well into her 80s. In 2004, at age 78, she was chairwoman of the 40th anniversary gala of the Friends of Chamounix Mansion, a youth hostel in Fairmount Park.

From 2008 to 2009, she was vice president of the board of the Greater Philadelphia Philosophical Consortium. She had a genius-level IQ and devoured three serious books a week, her son said.

Mrs. Regan grew up in the Harrisburg area. After graduating from high school, she was a secretary in Philadelphia to support her widowed mother and attended Temple University and the University of Pennsylvania.

In 1956, she married Owen E. Regan, a Ford Motor Co. executive. They met on a blind date.

The couple lived in Highland Park, Texas, and Birmingham, Mich., before moving to Berwyn in 1971.

When they left Birmingham, she held a party for friends and neighbors with a bar set up in a moving van in the driveway. A scene from the party was included in a 1971 CBS documentary about suburbia, But What if the Dream Comes True?

Besides her son, Mrs. Regan is survived by another son, Thomas; a daughter, Lara; two brothers; and three grandchildren. Her husband died in 1989.

A memorial service will be at 11 a.m. Saturday, Oct. 29, at St. David's Episcopal Church, 763 S. Valley Forge Rd., Wayne.

Donations may be made to the conservation fund of the Philadelphia Zoo, 3400 W. Girard Ave., Philadelphia 19104.