Doran Twer

Doran Jay Twer, of Jenkintown, Montgomery County, a longtime management consultant known for his elegant jump shot and dry wit, died peacefully on Thursday, March 26, following a respiratory illness. He was 78.

He was born and raised in Wilmington, DE—the son of a rabbi’s secretary (Beatrice) and a scientist for DuPont (Charles). A graduate of Columbia College and the University of Pennsylvania, Doran worked for many years as a vice president for marketing and communications and a senior consultant for The Hay Group—with clients that included General Dynamics, the president of Bucknell College, and Major League Baseball. After Hay (now Korn/Ferry), he started his own business, Doran Twer Communications, working mainly with the development of charter schools in the City of Philadelphia.

A gifted writer, speaker, and presenter, Doran was in demand as a Master of Ceremonies for retirement parties, anniversaries, funerals, and watershed birthdays, where he was known for roasting and toasting his colleagues and family with a light touch and devastating timing. If he encountered a sourpuss in the elevator at work, he felt it his duty to get that person to crack a smile before they hit the ground floor.

In his early life, Doran fell in love with basketball. He was a star forward at Mount Pleasant High School in Wilmington and continued playing at Columbia, until a knee injury cut short his college career. While at The Hay Group, he helped form a basketball team, the Hay Chargers, that played in the gritty Philadelphia Industrial League, and played in the league’s All-Star game at the Spectrum. His signature shot was a three-pointer from the corner.

He continued to play until he was 65, then transferred his passion to golf, the most challenging of sports, of which he once said: “I know exactly how to make sure I enjoy myself on the golf course: I set my expectations low, and then I meet them.” He golfed in the eighties for years.

After completing his bachelor’s degree in history from Columbia, he attended Columbia Teacher’s College for a Master’s Degree in Education. During that time, he taught at a progressive private school in midtown Manhattan, The Ethical Culture School, and then at the O’Neale School, where he also coached all the sports teams. After graduating Teacher’s College in 1971, he taught English at Operation Headstart, a Headstart summer program, and later earned a Master’s Degree from the Annenberg School of Communications at the University of Pennsylvania.

In the years before joining The Hay Group, he worked as a freelance writer, helped create and teach a writing course, conducted political polling, and was the Philadelphia-area media coordinator for Arizona Rep. Mo Udall’s 1976 presidential campaign.

Friends recall being regaled by his storytelling about the adventures and misadventures of his youth—working in the polluted Hudson River, driving cross-country in a converted milk truck, backpacking across Europe—and all the times in later years that he played “Auld Lang Syne” on the clarinet on New Year’s Eve in his tuxedo.

He got sick with a rare and incurable lymphoma that he managed to outlive for 13 years. Through it all—the chemo, the immunotherapy, the endless sticks and scans—the man never complained. He never missed a single one of his sons’ cross-country meets and football games and lasted long enough to experience the joy of a first grandchild. He remained brave and dignified to the end and never lost that droll sense of humor.

He is survived by his wife, Marguerite DeSiqueira; his sons, Nathaniel and Aden; his brother, David; his nephews, Kevin and Ethan; and a granddaughter, Malakai.

Donations may be made to the Rebecca Steinpfeffer Memorial Fund at Living Beyond Breast Cancer. Go to lbbc.org and scroll down to the name of the fund, or write it out.

There will be a graveside service at 11:30 a.m. on Friday, April 3, at Shalom Memorial Park. Use this address for your GPS: 357 Pine Road, Huntingdon Valley, PA 19006. Tel: 215.673.5800.