Lois Thayer, 82, a member of a prominent Philadelphia family, died Saturday a the Hospital of the University of Pennsylvania. She lived at 103 Airdale Rd., Rosemont, PA.
The former Lois Buchanan Cassatt, she was a great-great-niece of James Buchanan, who was President of the United States from 1857 to 1861, and the granddaughter of Alexander Johnston Cassatt, the seventh president of the Pennsylvania Railroad from 1899 to 1906.
Her late husband, John B. Thayer, also a member of a prominent Philadelphia family, was the financial vice president of the University of Pennsylvania.
Mr. Thayer was a survivor of the sinking of the Titanic in 1912 in which his father, John B. Thayer, Jr., vice president of the Pennsylvania Railroad, was drowned.
In 1945, at the age of 50, Mr. Thayer committed suicide.
Mrs. Thayer was active in civic and community affairs and was a former president of the Women's Committee of the Hospital of the University of Pennsylvania. She was also a patron of the Philadelphia Orchestra.
A former member of the Orthopedic Committee of the hospital, she also belonged to the Women's Committee of Scheie Eye Institute.
Mrs. Thayer was a member of the Colony Club of New York, the Acorn Club, the Marion Cricket Club, the Needlework Guild of America, the Colonial Dames and the English Speaking Union.
She was educated by private tutors and was graduated from Miss Spence School in New York. Mrs. Thayer lived in Haverford for many years.
She is survived by a son, John B. Thayer, 4th, three daughters, Lois Frazier, Julie Iselin, and Pauline Maguire; 10 grandchildren and five great-grandchildren.
Funeral services will be held at 2 P.M. Thursday at the Church of the Redeemer, Bryn Mawr. Interment will be in the cemetery in the churchyard.
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