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University City Science Center chief and La Salle board chair Zarrilli recovering from a stroke

Steve Zarrilli, who runs the University City Science Center for Penn, Drexel and CHOP and chairs the LaSalle University board, is at Penn's hospital recovering from a stroke

Stephen Zarrilli is the head of the University City Science Center.
Stephen Zarrilli is the head of the University City Science Center.Read moreStaff

Stephen T. Zarrilli, who runs the University City Science Center and chairs the La Salle University board, is recovering at the Hospital of the University of Pennsylvania after suffering a stroke as he drove in New Jersey on Friday.

Zarrilli, 58, “is stable and alert" and receiving treatment at Penn, Science Center spokeswoman Kristen Finch confirmed.

Zarrilli felt a severe headache and was examined at a community hospital on the Main Line, according to friends. Feeling assured that he was all right, he headed to the Shore on Friday, but had trouble driving, pulled over, and was taken by the driver of another car to Cooper University Hospital in Camden, before his admission to Penn.

Zarrilli was chief executive at Safeguard Scientifics, which invests in technology companies, until its investor-led reorganization two years ago. Last year, Zarrilli was named to the top job at the Science Center, a consortium of Penn, Drexel, Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia, and other University City landlords.

The center manages 16 mostly high-rise buildings of prime office, lab, retail and, recently, residential space adjoining the campuses, and has been executing the center’s ambitious growth plan to help biotech start-ups and other employers remain in the city at the site of the former University City High School, among other properties. Zarrilli succeeded Stephen Tang, now chief executive at OraSure in Bethlehem, Pa.

Since 2015, Zarrilli has also headed the board at La Salle, where he graduated with an accounting degree in 1983. On his watch, La Salle hired its current president, Colleen Hanycz, charged with shoring up the school’s finances and boosting its efficiency while maintaining its mission as one of Philadelphia’s Big Five colleges, attracting students from the city and its suburbs.