Mitchell Franklin Gordon

Mitchell Franklin Gordon, 76, of Center City Philadelphia, passed away peacefully after an serious on Sunday, December 21, 2025, at Pennsylvania Hospital (Penn Medicine), 800 Spruce Street, Philadelphia.

Mitch was born on January 12, 1949, in Philadelphia, PA, the son of the late Lewis Gordon and Bernice (nee Heitzer) Gordon Cohen. He was raised in Drexel Hill, PA, and graduated from Upper Darby High School in 1966. He earned a Bachelor of Arts in Political Science with a minor in Journalism from Fairleigh Dickinson University and later earned a Master’s degree in Urban Planning from New York University.

While in college, Mitch served as editor of his school’s student newspaper and also published an underground newspaper. Although fascinated by cities and urban development, after several years working in the urban planning field he pursued his true passion: writing and journalism. As a freelance writer, he authored numerous articles on the City of Philadelphia and its inhabitants, many of which were published in the Philadelphia Bulletin and the Philadelphia Inquirer. His work also appeared in anthologies reflecting on social and cultural change, including Viable Utopian Ideas and Science Fiction, Science Fact and You. For many years, he wrote a weekly column for a local neighborhood paper, the Weekly Press.

Mitch’s writing explored a wide range of topics, including urban development, technology, New Age culture, and the settlement of the space frontier. In 2019, he published a nonfiction work entitled The Cosmic Interpretation of History: Commentary on the New Age and Human Destiny. His novel, Disciples of the Age, is intended to be published posthumously. A futurist at heart, Mitch considered himself a New Age disciple and Space Age philosopher.

In addition to his writing career, Mitch worked part-time for many years as a marketing and manufacturing assistant at Gordon Laboratories in Upper Darby, PA, a company founded by his father, Lewis, and operated by his mother, Bernice, for 40 years until its sale. He continued to work for the new owners for many years.

Mitch was deeply committed to promoting humanity’s future as a spacefaring civilization and was active in several Philadelphia-area organizations dedicated to space exploration. He served as Vice President of the Philadelphia Area Space Alliance from the late 1990s until the group’s dissolution in 2024. The organization was a local chapter of the National Space Society, dating back to the 1980s. Mitch became the group’s primary contact for events and public outreach, including programs at the Franklin Institute, the Philadelphia Science Festival (formerly the Super Science Festival), and other venues. He also participated in panel discussions at the Philadelphia Science Fiction Conference (Philcon) on New Age–related topics for many years.

Mitch was also an active member of the World Future Society and served as Program Director for the Philadelphia chapter for more than two decades.

He was actively engaged in his local community and treasured time spent with friends, including weekly card games. He delighted in Philadelphia traditions such as the Mummers Parade, July 4th fireworks, and numerous city festivals, and especially enjoyed trips to Atlantic City. Mitch’s renowned sense of humor, deep love for Philadelphia, and strong connection to the spiritual family of the local Bahá’í community contributed to a rich, fulfilling, and meaningful life.

He is survived by his sister, Cynthia Burrows, and her husband, James, of Nashua, NH; his niece Elizabeth Leykin and her husband, Nicholas, of Rochester, NY, his grandniece Tekiah Leykin, and niece Micayla Burrows and her husband, William “Liam” Booze, of Arlington, VA.

Family and friends are invited to a chapel funeral service, Sunday, December 28, 2025 at 11:00 a.m. at Joseph Levine & Sons, 4737 E Street, Feasterville-Trevose, PA. Services will be webcast at www.levinefuneral.com/trevose-webcam. Burial will follow at Roosevelt Memorial Park. For directions or to sign the memorial guestbook, please visit obits.levinefuneral.com/mitchell-gordon. Guests are also invited to attend a luncheon following the burial. In lieu of flowers, memorial donations may be made in Mitchell’s name to the American Cancer Society (www.cancer.org) or the National Space Society (www.nss.org).

Arrangments by Joseph Levine & Sons