Philip Valente, Jr.

Philip Valente Jr., 84 years of West Chester, PA  died Tuesday, November 7, 2023 at his home in West Chester PA.

He was the husband of the late Diane Lucille Valente (Viti).

Born April 6, 1939 in Philadelphia, PA he was the son of the late Philip Valente, Sr. and the late Madeline Beretta Valente.

Phil grew up in the Queens Village section of Philadelphia, PA and graduated from South Catholic High School in 1956.  He went on to get his BS in Business Administration from Villanova University, graduating in 1960.

He started his career at Aetna Casualty and Surety in 1960 as a Claims Representative.  In 1966 he entered the sales field with Highland Laboratories.  He started out as a sales representative in the field and worked his way up to District Manager by 1971.   He managed the Interstate Blood Bank in North Philadelphia from 1971 to 1981 acting as a General Manager and then the East Regional Sales Manager.  From 1981 to 1984 he came back to sales initially with Haemonetics selling centrifuge equipment.  In 1985 he started with Millipore Corporation selling laboratory water purification equipment, supplies and services.  He spent the last 31 years of a career spanning six decades with Millipore.

Phil served his country proudly in the Army from 1963 to 1965 at various bases.  He spent his last assignment at Fort Dix.  He had a seemingly endless cadre of humorous stories about his varying experience in the Army, which he loved to tell.

Phil was very passionate about two hobbies.  He loved to build, fly and race control line model aircraft.   He was an active member and frequent competitor in races in both Middlesex NJ and Millville NJ.  His workshop is a tribute to his affection for fabricating model airplanes completely from scratch, testing and racing them.  Phil also enjoyed fishing off the New Jersey Coastline as well.  He enjoyed fishing for striped bass and bluefish inshore, drifting for fluke on the reefs or stalking tuna and mahi-mahi in the offshore canyons.  Many wonderful and lifelong relationships were made in both pursuits.

Phil was a die-hard sports fan, favoring the Villanova Wildcats basketball program as well as the Philadelphia Eagles.  Whether in the stands or watching on TV he was a vocal fan cheering on his Team.

Phil is survived by his sister Maria T. Valente; sons Philip Valente III (Christina Valente) and Timothy H. Valente (Carroll J. Valente); grandchildren Andrew Valente (Katlyn Valente), Timothy R. Valente, Meredith Valente, Isabella Valente and Sophia Valente; great grandchildren Julien Valente, Aidyn Valente and Greyson Valente. 

Relatives and friends are invited to his visitation on Saturday, December 9, 2023 from 11:00 am -  11:45 am at St. Patrick Church 104 Channing Ave Malvern, PA 19355, followed by his Funeral Mass at 12:00 pm.  

Interment will be in St. Agnes Cemetery, West Chester, PA.

In lieu of flowers, contributions may be made to the American Heart Association.

Arrangements by DellaVecchia, Reilly, Smith & Boyd Funeral Home, Inc. of West Chester, PA 610-696-1181; www.DellaFH.com.