Edgar Scott, Jr.

Edgar Scott Jr., a Philadelphia stock broker who played a key role in building Janney Montgomery Scott into what by the late 1970s was one of the largest regional securities organizations in the country, and who continued as a chairman of the firm for two more decades, died on December 28, 2025 at the age of 100.

The eldest son of Edgar Scott and Helen Hope Montgomery Scott, he grew up on Ardrossan, the Montgomery family’s Villanova, PA estate that partially inspired the setting and some characters in The Philadelphia Story, the 1939 play by Philip Barry and 1940 film starring Katharine Hepburn as Tracy Lord.

Mr. Scott attended the Groton School in Groton, MA, leaving after the eleventh grade to enlist in the Marines during World War II. After serving in Japan, he graduated from Harvard College in 1949 and went to work for Montgomery, Scott & Co., a brokerage co-founded by his father and maternal grandfather.

He was senior partner when the firm merged in 1971 with Janney, Battles & EW Clark, Inc., at which point he became co-chairman of the board and chairman of the executive committee of Janney Montgomery Scott. In those roles, he helped expand the firm’s reach through a series of additional mergers during that decade.

A man of understated charm and a splendidly dry sense of humor, Mr. Scott was married for 68 years to Lindsay F. Scott until her death in 2016. They chose to live not on Ardrossan but on a beloved farm in Unionville, PA where they raised two children, kept horses and dogs, and were active members of Mr. Stewart’s Cheshire Foxhounds. Well into his eighties, Mr. Scott rode regularly with the hunt.

At the time of his death, he was the longest-serving and second-oldest member of The Philadelphia Club, said to be the oldest city club in the United States and one of the oldest men’s clubs.

He is survived by his children, three grandchildren, and five great grandchildren. In lieu of flowers, a contribution can be made to the Cheshire Land Preservation Fund, P.O Box 494, Unionville, PA 19375.

A memorial service will be held in the spring.

Arrangements by Kuzo Funeral Home of Kennett Square, PA.