 Dr.
Phillips and the charities that carry his name have a rich history
in central Florida and continue to have a great impact on the lives
of the area’s residents. Philip Phillips came into this world
on Jan. 27, 1874, in Memphis, Tenn. Better known as Doc Phillips,
details of his early life are sketchy but we know that he was awarded
a medical degree from New York’s Columbia University.
The young doctor first came to Florida in 1894, where he purchased
his first orange grove in Satsuma. One of the most devastating freezes
in Florida’s history occurred in early 1895. Two days of below-freezing
temperatures and acres of destroyed citrus trees forced Doc to return
to his home in Tennessee. Doc returned to Florida in 1897, and the
land he purchased in Osceola County led to the creation of a citrus
empire with more than 5,000 acres of citrus groves and two packing
houses. In 1905, Dr. Phillips purchased a grove on the south side
of Sand Lake. Ultimately, this land would become the site of the
Orlando Regional Sand Lake Hospital, which was renamed in 2006 as
The Dr. P. Phillips Hospital.
Dr. Phillips and his wife, Della, moved to Orlando where they
raised their family and established their reputation for philanthropy.
The couple had two sons. The eldest, Howard, was born in Tennessee
on March 27, 1902, and Walter was born in Kissimmee, Fla., on
Nov. 27, 1904.
Dr. Phillips was known for the many innovations that the company
incorporated in the packaging and processing of orange juice.
As the family  citrus
business grew, Dr. Phillips brought in temporary help from the
Bahamas. Housing was established for workers in the Dr. Phillips
community and a post office was built to provide services. In
the 1950s, recognizing that proper health care for black citizens
of central Florida was almost non-existent, Dr. Phillips was instrumental
in establishing the Dr. Phillips Memorial Hospital. Howard Phillips,
having graduated from Harvard, worked alongside his father and
encouraged two black doctors to relocate to Orlando to establish
their practice.
The Phillips family’s generosity and keen passion for helping
people in the community led to the establishment of The Dr. P.
Phillips Foundation in 1953, to support charitable needs in the
central Florida area. The family felt that it was important to
support programs that would correct the origins or causes of a
problem, thus leading to the Foundation’s motto “to
help others help themselves.”
In 1954, the citrus business was sold to Granada Groves, a partnership
of 75 percent Investors Diversified Services and 25 percent Minute
Maid Inc.
Dr. Philip Phillips passed away on April 18, 1959; engraved on
his marble tombstone are the words: Under His Hand the Wilderness
Bore Fruit. His wife, Della, passed away in 1968, and Howard Phillips,
the remaining sole stockholder of the Phillips corporations, continued
the family legacy of philanthropy through the Foundation and the
corporation. Upon his death in 1979, Howard Phillips, the sole
heir of Dr. P. Phillips, left all of the Phillips holdings to
be used in charitable ways.
Today, Dr. Phillips Inc., a not-for-profit corporation, owns
and leases commercial and industrial properties in the central
Florida area. With in excess of $23 million in grants given in
the past three years to central Florida nonprofits, The Dr. P.
Phillips Foundation and Dr. Phillips Inc. continue to respond
to the needs of the central Florida community by directly touching
the lives of tens of thousands of children and families each year.
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