SAVVY MAINLINE

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The incredible journey of Berwyn’s JP Weber; Why we lost Wayne Sporting Goods; Real estate rumblings in Radnor; Shipley grad’s ‘Wild Life’; Claytor Noone Plastic Surgery; Anti-aging medicine; Personalized test prep & more

/ By Caroline O'Halloran / /

JP Weber clearly remembers the day he died.

“I can’t go back there,” he thought on June 3, 2016. “I’m never going in there again.”

An elite loan originator for PNC Bank, Weber quit his job that late spring morning and walked, blindly, off a cliff. The old JP – people-pleasing, Percocet-popping, life-of-the-party JP – long crumbling, collapsed completely. And ever-so-slowly, canvas by canvas, rose up and pieced himself back together.

Pinstripe-suited Joseph Paul Weber was buried that Friday morning. Ponytailed, self-actualized artist @JohnHamster was born.

What some call a complete mental breakdown, Weber, 43, calls The Undoing.

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The Main Line’s most networked woman tells all – and it’s not always pretty. Plus, T/E to seize land for schools; Dust-ups in Devon, Berwyn & Paoli; Blue political coup; Vaughan builders & SAVVY reader-appreciation freebies & deals!

/ By Caroline O'Halloran / /

Life looks a lot different after you’re hit, dragged and pinned under a 20,000-pound truck. Just ask Bala Cynwyd’s Jennifer Robinson, who in 2008 nearly lost her life during a sunny stroll on Penn’s campus. In a blink, she went from a newly- wed, rock-star litigator to mangled victim, fully conscious and terrified as EMTs swarmed around her.

Fast forward to 2019 and a reborn Robinson, 46, is finally able to talk about her accident, about the devastating spiral that ensued and how she clawed her way back to daylight.

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Main Line apartment boom: Why so many? 118 North and Amis 2.0; New Cocoon wellness pod & non-surgical neck fix; Devon migrant-shelter update; Plank Studio & more

/ By Caroline O'Halloran / /

Townhomes and McMansions are so 20 years ago.

Seems everywhere we turn, there’s an apartment complex just waiting to be built.

From Narberth to Ardmore to Berwyn and beyond, developers are teeing up hefty rental projects. 2,000 new units are in the pipeline in Lower Merion alone.

So many, in fact, they’re beginning to blur: mid-rise buildings with flat-roofs, mixed-material facades, pristine kitchens and baths and smallish living quarters. What you lose in personal square footage, you gain in amenities and walk-to-town/train/trail convenience.

Or so the pitch goes.

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Battle erupts over migrant kids shelter in Devon; Transportation woes in T/E schools; New Nova hotspot, The Refectory; Di Bruno Bros. to Wayne; RCA Devon update; Elizabeth Reynolds Interiors & much more

/ By Caroline O'Halloran / /

The immigration crisis – complicated and contentious – has reached our Main Line borders.

Devereux wants to turn its original Devon campus into a shelter for unaccompanied refugee children.

And neighbors want none of it.

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Social edition: Giant Steps for Sarcoma; LM Conservancy, Riverbend & JCHAI galas; Fred’s Footsteps GNO; Devereux does Devon & The Cottage kicks off in Wayne

/ By Caroline O'Halloran / /

Braving steamy temps, throngs of sarcoma warriors, survivors, their families and friends – 1,300 strong – walked or raced through Wilson Farm Park in Chesterbrook on June 11.

The teams: Identifiable by their custom tees, at least 30 teams turned out for the 5K chip-timed race and one-mile walk, many led by people battling sarcoma on crutches, wheelchairs and with prosthetic limbs.

Gang green: Some 80 family and friends wore green t-shirts in honor of Pat Maher of Devon, who tragically lost a four-year-battle with sarcoma last June at age 47. Pat led his green-shirted team in the first Steps to Cure Sarcoma event two years ago.

The hometown hero host: Conestoga ’06 star and Ewing’s sarcoma survivor Mark Herzlich, 29, who will play his 7th season for the New York Giants this fall.

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