joined prominent Philadelphia philanthropists who, in 1820, convinced the Pennsylvania legislature to fund the Pennsylvania Institution for the Deaf and Dumb, founded by rabbi David G. Seixas, now known as the Pennsylvania School for the Deaf. White served as the school's president for the next 16 years. He also ministered to Philadelphia's prisoners, becoming the first president of the Philadelphia Society for the Alleviation of Miseries of Public Prisons, which attracted the participation of numerous Quakers. Not known for his oratory (but for quiet sardonic wit), White earned Philadelphians' esteem for his erudition and ongoing charitable works, especially during the multiple outbreaks of yellow fever in that city throughout the 1790s. White and his friend and neighbor Benjamin Rush were among the few prominent citizens who remained to tend the ill when many other wealthy inhabitants fled to the countryside. As White aged, arranging for his successor became divisive in the diocese. Benjamin Allen arrived from Virginia to lead the diocese's most evangelical congregation, St. Paul's and also founded another congregation, St. Andrew's, without White's permission. White questioned certain aspects of lay leadership at the revival meetings. Allen and the evangelical party selected George Boyd to replace White's assistant James Abercrombie, and Allen in place of Kemper at the diocesan council. When they tried to elect Meade as White's coadjutor (assistant bishop with right of succession) over White's preferred candidate (Bird Wilson, a professor at General Theological Seminary but canonically resident in Pennsylvania), the diocesan convention ended in a deadlock. At the next Convention, Wilson took himself out of contention, as did Meade, and the divided delegates eventually selected Henry Onderdonk (of Brooklyn, New York; who preferred High Church practices but had also revitalized that congregation). White was a member of the American Philosophical Society, along with many other prominent Philadelphians, including Benjamin Franklin, as well as a trustee of the University of Pennsylvania from 1774 until his death. During his tenure as trustee, he also served as Treasurer (1775–1778) and President (1790–1791) of the board of trustees. Family connections and private life White was married to Mary Harrison (1750–1797). Mary's father, Henry Harrison, had also been the Mayor of Philadelphia from 1762 to 1763. The Whites had eight children, only three of whom survived to adulthood. As a widower, White supported seven of his grandchildren. In 1813, the bishop's widowed daughter Elizabeth brought her two daughters to live in