Ellen Speiser Katz

 Ellen Speiser Katz, 80, an early principal of the Philadelphia School, a progressive private institution, died Sunday, Jan. 25, of Parkinson's disease at her Rittenhouse Square apartment.

She was the principal and head of school from 1975 to 1982, first when the school was in a rented space at Rodeph Shalom Congregation on North Broad Street, and then when it moved to its current home at 25th and Lombard Streets.

Mrs. Katz previously worked as a public-school teacher, first at South Philadelphia High School and then at Philadelphia High School for Girls, where she was dean of students.

She was forced to resign in 1964 when she became pregnant with her first child. She was married, but her pregnancy was deemed an "immoral influence," said daughter Erica Speiser Eisenberg, who was born that year.

She was born in Philadelphia and graduated from Friends Select School in 1952. She attended Mount Holyoke College and later graduated from Barnard College in 1956. She earned a master's degree in education from the University of Pennsylvania in 1957.

A grandfather was Maurice Speiser, a onetime city prosecutor who went on to become a literary attorney and represented Ernest Hemingway. Her grandfather had a Georgian brownstone on Delancey Place that was redesigned and renovated by the architect George Howe, whose most famous creation is the PSFS building. Mrs. Katz resided in that house for much of her life.

In retirement, she served on the board of trustees of Friends Select and as an honorary trustee at the Philadelphia School.

She donated a collection of her grandfather's letters to and from Hemingway and other historical figures, including e.e. cummings and Henry Miller, to the University of South Carolina. The collection also includes Hemingway proofs, typescripts, and rare editions of his books.

Mrs. Katz was preceded in death by her second husband, Max.

In addition to her daughter, she is survived by another daughter, Martha Speiser Eisenberg, and five grandchildren. Her first husband, Malcolm C. Eisenberg, also survives.

The family will receive visitors in Mrs. Katz's apartment Sunday, Feb. 1, from 2 to 5 p.m.

Donations in her name may be made to Friends Select School via www.friends-select.org/support/index.aspx or the Philadelphia School via www.tpschool.org/give-online/.

bmoran@phillynews.com

215-854-5983 @RobertMoran215