Janet “Jan” Terry Kollock, a former fashion executive at area department stores, died of Alzheimer’s Disease, Aug. 17, at Palm Harbor Rehabilitation Center in Florida. She was 82. Kollock and her husband of 54 years, David Peter Kollock, moved to Florida from Chestnut Hill in 2022.
A longtime area resident, Kollock had a rich and varied career and life. She was a newspaper columnist, fashion director at Wanamaker’s department store, head of sales promotion for Bloomingdale’s in the Philadelphia area, and a former congressional aide. She was also deeply involved in the Chestnut Hill Conservancy, Wissahickon Garden Club, and St. Paul’s Episcopal Church.
Born in Rockville, Maryland, in 1943, Kollock was the eldest of three children and inherited her first name from her mother, Janet Reynolds Terry, of Elyria, Ohio. She attended a girls boarding school and spent her high school summers working as a lifeguard.
She enrolled at Vanderbilt University and studied political science. “She clinched victory in the campus Twist Contest,” her daughter, Paige, said. “That same decade, she was crowned Alabama’s Cherry Blossom Princess, paraded through Washington, D.C. on a float, and was photographed alongside Lady Bird and President Lyndon Johnson, who offered her a job at the White House, which she declined.”
In 1964, Kollock was featured in the New York Times stubbing out her last pack of cigarettes to promote the passage of her father’s landmark legislation on smoking and health. As U.S. surgeon general, Dr. Luther L. Terry’s report, “Smoking and Health — Report of the Advisory Committee of the Surgeon General of the Public Health Service,” became one of the most important and widely cited documents in the history of medicine, an achievement Kollock was extremely proud of. For the first time, a government report stated clearly that cigarette smoking was a leading cause of lung cancer, coronary heart disease and other debilitating ailments.
Paige said after college, “With a keen interest in fashion, arts and culture, Jan started her career in journalism, reporting for the now-defunct Washington Daily News, where she authored a ‘Society’ column, which entailed rubbing elbows with some of Washington, D.C.’s, elite at parties. It was a perfect fit for a bon vivant who reveled in taking in every small detail, from the flower arrangements to the food, music, and decor.”
Kollock went on to work for U.S. Rep. Paul Rogers, of Florida, U.S. Sen. Joe Tydings, of Maryland, and even briefly on Vice President Hubert Humphrey’s presidential campaign in 1968. But her first love, fashion, became her North Star.
Family members said she had several male suitors in her 20s, including four broken engagements. However, in 1970, she accompanied her brothers to a rugby party, where she met the love of her life, David Kollock, a sailor, rugby, and ice hockey player whose rougher edges complemented her poise.
Paige said, “in a zip-up leather dress and blue-tinted aviator glasses, she stood out, and David noticed her immediately. After a brief Monday night courtship (Jan’s diary was otherwise fully booked with dates) lasting a mere three months, the two were engaged.”
The couple married in May 1970, at Christ Episcopal Church in Society Hill, where, according to her wedding announcement, seven signers of the Declaration of Independence (including Benjamin Franklin and George Washington) once attended services. “On the way from the church to the reception, in true Jan fashion,” Paige said, “they took a detour to visit a gravely ill friend who could not attend, a small act of grace and compassion that defined Jan’s life.”
From 1970 to 1974, the couple lived in the Cherokee Apartments in Chestnut Hill. They then bought a house at 550 E. Evergreen Ave. in Wyndmoor, where they lived for 31 years.
In Philadelphia, Kollock became fashion coordinator at Wanamaker’s, staging fashion shows and related events for the store. Later, she was named director of sales promotion for Bloomingdale’s in the Philadelphia area, and was the first employee in the Philadelphia area hired to promote the company’s then-new store in Jenkintown.
“I will cherish our close friendship of 55 years,” Lanie Dilks told the Local. “While I am happy for Jan that she is finally free of her horrible disease, it is also hard to lose her. She was an elegant and glamorous lady who included me in her world. ... It did not take long for me to recognize that Jan was one of the most kind, thoughtful and caring people I ever knew. And I would like to thank David for being such a wonderful caregiver.”
“Where to even begin?” added another close friend, Whitney Farnum Garner. “Jan was always a staple figure in my life growing up, as were all the Kollocks. ... I will cherish the many memories I have. May her spirit live on in the many memories shared.”
Hollis O’Sullivan, another of Jan’s friends, told us, “I will never forget Jan’s amazing sense of fashion. We loved going into her closet and seeing all the beautiful clothes she had, especially those leather pants she looked amazing in. … And she was so caring.”
According to Paige, “Jan was endlessly giving and boundlessly energetic. She prided herself on never taking a nap. She was a perfectionist when it came to matters of entertaining, and I’m sure she drove many caterers nuts.”
Jan was predeceased by her brothers, Luther Leonidas Terry and Michael Durham Terry. She is survived by her husband, David Peter Kollock; son David Alexander Hall Kollock; daughter Paige Terry Kollock; granddaughters Madeleine Elizabeth Kollock and Sophie Terry Fakih; grandson Alexander Shepard Fakih; sisters-in-law Belinda Walker Terry, Joan Terry, and Marie Christine Kollock; nephews Luther Durham Terry, Luther Leonidas Terry, and Cyril Kollock; and nieces Victoria Valentine, Isabel Babcock, and Emilie Kollock.
A service will be held for Jan Kollock at the Church of the Redeemer in Bryn Mawr on Nov. 22. Memorial donations may be made to the Chestnut Hill Conservancy.
Len Lear can be reached at LenLear@chestnuthilllocal.com.
