Mary Van Sciver Biddle died of natural causes on February 18, 2026 at the age of 99 in Lafayette Hill, PA. She was born on October 6, 1926 in Chestnut Hill and grew up in Mt. Airy, PA. Her parents were Russell Van Sciver and Elizabeth Hurley Potts Van Sciver. Mary was a direct descendant of Thomas Croasdale, a Quaker who sailed to America with William Penn aboard the Welcome and its fleet in 1682, and the iron merchant John Potts who founded Pottstown, PA in 1752. Her grandfather Joseph Bishop Van Sciver founded the J.B. Van Sciver Furniture Company.
Mary attended the Green Street Friends School, Stevens School, and Ogontz Junior College (’47). Mary learned to sail, fish, and skipper boats from a young age. In 1948, she caught a record-sized 335-lb bluefin tuna in two hours ten minutes off Amagansett, and, in 1949, she won the Starboat race at the Devon Yacht Club. Mary grew up horseback riding and fox hunting with the Whitemarsh Junior Hunt and was a member of the Huntington Valley Hunt Club. She won many horsemanship, working hunter, and jumping events with her horse “El Dorado.” Mary also learned to figure skate and was a member of the Wissahickon Skating Club.
In 1952, Mary married Roscoe Tate Anthony, Jr. of Palm Beach, FL. They had two children, Tate and Theresa. They divorced in 1958. In 1968, Mary married Oliver Biddle of Philadelphia, a marriage that lasted 50 years until his death in 2018. They had one daughter, Vanessa. At their home in Chestnut Hill, Mary cultivated an award-winning garden and trained their Jack Russell Terrier “Tess” as an ‘elite’ agility competitor, certified Canine Good Citizen, flyball dog champion, and registered therapy dog. Mary was a keen investor, talented artist, avid gardener, and prolific knitter.
In 2006, Mary and Oliver moved to the Hill at Whitemarsh where they both remained until their deaths. Mary is survived by her three children, Theresa Crowley of Malvern, PA, R. Tate Anthony III of West Chester, PA and Lake Sunapee, NH, and Vanessa Biddle, of Los Angeles, CA, five stepchildren, six grandchildren, and four great-grandchildren. She is pre-deceased by her husband Oliver Biddle and her sister Elizabeth Atkinson. In accordance with her wishes, there will be no funeral service.
