There’s an obituary for Richard Glanton, who died of a heart attack at 79, in the Philadelphia Inquirer, and buried in the eleventh paragraph is this little nugget:

He ended a workplace sexual harassment suit with a private settlement in the early 1990s

What a way to bury one of the stories that had the city enthralled for months with all its salacious details.

In 1992 a former associate of the firm of Reed, Smith, Shaw, and McClay filed a sex discrimination lawsuit against the firm and partner Richard Glanton. She alleged that he made “sexually explicit remarks to [her] which indicated his desire to have a sexual relationship.” 

When she rejected his offers, he limited her assignments, so she eventually agreed to his demands. When she finally broke off the relationship because it was causing her emotional pain, a managing partner told her she would never make partner and to not bother coming into the office any more. She was joined in her lawsuit by her husband, a member of the Philadelphia Orchestra.

Glanton and his firm fought the suit, and lots of salacious details came out during the trial, which were duly reported in the press. Sadly, the jury ended up with a compromise verdict that made no sense. While in my opinion the plaintiff made her case that Richard Glanton was a sexual predator, the jury did not see it that way and merely found that he defamed her when he said that he had not harassed her. Talk about your mixed message. They also left Reed, Smith completely off the hook.

The lawsuit doesn’t seem to have hurt the firm of Reed, Smith, which again seems to confirm the saying that there’s no such thing as bad publicity.

But that’s not the only thing Glanton is remembered for, of course.

He was president of the Barnes Foundation, a collection primarily of works by Impressionist, Post-Impressionist, and Modernist masters, collected by A. C. Barnes, an eccentric who left strict instructions in his will as to how the collection should be managed. (That’s the original Barnes Foundation building in the header of this post.)

However, Glanton and his partners didn’t think it was making enough money under the terms of the Barnes will, so he went to court and broke the will. And ever since he’s been raking in the dough.

Oh, yes, Glanton was a Republican who served under Gov. Dick Thornburgh’s administration. I don’t think his being a Republican has anything to do with his rapaciousness. Do you?