Robert Montgomery Scott, 76; Philadelphia Arts, Civic Leader

Arts and civic leader Robert Montgomery Scott, the stylish scion of two prominent families who was once dubbed “the Quintessential Philadelphian,” died Thursday, a Bryn Mawr Hospital spokeswoman said. He was 76.

Scott died of liver failure after a long illness, the Philadelphia Inquirer newspaper reported.

Scott’s mother, socialite Hope Montgomery Scott, was the model for Tracy Lord, Katharine Hepburn’s character in the 1939 Broadway play and 1940 film “The Philadelphia Story.” His father, investment banker Edgar Scott, was an heir to the Pennsylvania Railroad fortune.

Scott worked as a law partner in Philadelphia and as a diplomatic aide in Britain, but is perhaps best known for running the Philadelphia Museum of Art from 1982 to 1996. During his tenure as chief executive, the museum’s endowment grew from less than $20 million to $100 million and its annual attendance from 400,000 to nearly 1 million.

Scott was raised at his grandfather’s 650-acre estate in Wayne, Pa. After attending Harvard University and the University of Pennsylvania law school, he joined the law firm of Montgomery McCracken Walker & Rhoads, which had been founded by a great-uncle.

From 1969 to 1973, he served as special assistant to Walter Annenberg, U.S. ambassador to Great Britain.

Scott also served as president of the Academy of Music, then home to the Philadelphia Orchestra.

Philadelphia magazine called him the “the Quintessential Philadelphian” in a 1993 profile.

He is survived by his companion, Margaret Anne Everitt; daughters, Janny Scott and Hope Rogers; son, Elliot; brother, Edgar Jr.; and seven grandchildren.