Leonard Abramson, who rose from a difficult childhood in Philadelphia’s Strawberry Mansion neighborhood to build one of the nation’s major healthcare companies and become a leading philanthropist in medicine and Jewish life, died on July 4. He was 93.

Abramson was best known as the founder of U.S. Healthcare, the managed care company he sold to Aetna in 1996 in a deal reported at more than $8 billion. But that was only part of his life, his two daughters said.

“He was extremely family-oriented,” said Nancy Wolfson. “Family really meant everything to him.”

Abramson was born on Nov. 12, 1932, the only child of Joseph and Zipporah Abramson. His father was an immigrant, a cantor and kosher butcher, and his mother was a homemaker.

He did not talk much about his childhood, his daughters said. It was not a happy one. But it shaped him.

“He was extremely poor, and he worked very hard to succeed,” Judy Felgoise said. “He drove a taxi to put himself through pharmacy school.”

Abramson attended the Philadelphia College of Pharmacy and Science. His wife, Madlyn, a schoolteacher, also helped him pay for school after they married. He worked first in pharmacy and medical equipment sales, though his daughter said he did not love pharmacy itself.

“I think he just needed a career,” Felgoise said. “He was sort of guided that this was a good way to start a career. He pivoted so many times after that.”

Those pivots led him into hospital management and to the creation of HMO of Pennsylvania, which became U.S. Healthcare. His daughters said he saw a void in the healthcare system and believed there was a better way to deliver care.

Abramson was driven, determined and intensely focused, they said. He also cared about the people who worked for him. Wolfson said former employees still write warmly about him in a private Facebook group for U.S. Healthcare employees, remembering “Mr. A.”

“He was very well respected, and he cared tremendously about his employees,” Wolfson said.

That concern showed during the sale of U.S. Healthcare to Aetna, his daughters said. Felgoise recalled that Abramson called off the deal at one point because he believed too many employees would be fired.

“He said, ‘I will not allow you to come in and destroy this and fire all these people,’” Felgoise said.

Abramson told his family that honesty, integrity and loyalty were the three qualities they should live by.

“He said that all the time,” Wolfson said.

After the Aetna sale, Abramson did not really retire. He consulted, served on boards and continued going to his family’s office until the Friday before he died, Felgoise said.

He also had a creative side. In later years, he painted, kept bonsai trees, played piano, gardened and enjoyed boating. He had a vacation home in Maine, where he liked to spend summers.

But his largest public legacy may be the philanthropy he and Madlyn built together.

Madlyn Abramson was treated for cancer at Penn when the cancer center was much smaller. The care she received helped inspire the couple’s commitment to cancer care and research.

“They really wanted to make sure that every cancer patient received the best quality care and the same kind of care that she was able to get,” Wolfson said.

Their support helped build what became the Abramson Cancer Center at the University of Pennsylvania. Wolfson said her parents were especially committed to research, including early support for Dr. Carl June, whose work helped lead to CAR T-cell therapy.

“They focused on funding research and trying to eradicate cancer in their lifetime,” Wolfson said.

The couple also supported the Leonard and Madlyn Abramson Pediatric Research Center at Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia. Felgoise said healthcare and Philadelphia both mattered deeply to her parents.

“They wanted to support institutions in Philadelphia,” she said.

The Abramsons also gave to Jewish causes and institutions, including the Jewish Federation of Greater Philadelphia. The Madlyn and Leonard Abramson Center for Jewish Life in North Wales was named for them. Wolfson said her parents wanted older Jewish adults to have a safe and caring place to live.

They belonged to synagogues wherever they lived. Their affiliations included congregations Beth Sholom, Beth Or, Tiferet Bet Israel and synagogues in Florida and Maine.

Jewish life was also central at home. Felgoise said her mother hosted large Passover Seders, Chanukah parties and sukkah parties, and welcomed anyone who needed a place to go.

Support for Israel was important to the couple. Felgoise said they visited Israel many times, had friends there, supported causes there and were early supporters of Birthright Israel. Abramson was also involved with the Foundation for Defense of Democracies. Most recently, he donated to a Federation effort to combat antisemitism.

Wolfson said her parents taught their children and grandchildren that giving back was a responsibility. They helped large institutions, but they also helped people privately and often anonymously.

“They instilled in everybody — in the family, the grandchildren, the daughters — that if you have the ability to help others, it’s your responsibility,” she said.

Near the end of his life, Abramson remained proud of his family and what he and Madlyn had done for the community.

“He was a very loving, generous, smart husband,” Wolfson said. “He was a wonderful husband, father, grandfather and great-grandfather, and will be truly missed by many people who knew him well and by the lives that he touched.”

Ellen Braunstein is a freelance obituary writer. She welcomes suggestions for individuals who had meaningful ties to the Philadelphia Jewish community. Email csix@midatlanticmedia.com.