​​Joseph Wharton (1826 - 1909) was the founder of The Wharton School of Business, and the Bethlehem Steel Corporation.  He was the father of the original owner of Melmar, Joanna Wharton Lippincott, and the grandfather of the second owner, Sarah Wharton Lippincott Biddle.  Several historical artifacts were relocated from his other estates including "The Columns" at the Melmar front entrance as well as the ancient roman patio in Melmar's Rear Grounds known as "The Pergola".​​

Wharton was born in Philadelphia in 1826, the fifth chid of ten in a liberal Hicksite Quaker family. His parents, William Wharton and Deborah Fisher Wharton, were both from prominent early American immigrant families of Quaker descent.  Wharton's father was a typical gentleman and did not hold a regular job because he had several illnesses, but oversaw his estate, served on the Philadelphia School Board, and was active with his wife Deborah in the Hicksite ministry.  His mother, Deborah Fisher Wharton, co-founded Swarthmore College.

Wharton's youth was spent in the family's house near Spruce and 4th Streets in downtown Philadelphia and at the country mansion "Bellevue".  From their country estate, the family often went to the nearby Schuylkill River, visited neighboring estates such as Deborah's grandfather Joshua Fisher's "The Cliffs", and went on weekend horse and carriage excursions to the countryside surrounding Philadelphia, sometimes attending the smaller Quaker Meetings.

Wharton's maternal grandfather, Samuel R. Fisher ran a prosperous mercantile business and shipping packet line between Philadelphia and London​

Both of his grandmothers were named Hannah and were from Newport, Rhode Island. His grandmother Hannah Rodman was a descendant of Thomas Cornell, the ancestor of Ezra Cornell who founded Cornell University.​

In 1881 he endowed what would become the Wharton School of Business at the University of Pennsylvania​​​

In 1904 Bethlehem Steel Corporation was formed by Joseph Wharton and Charles M Schwab (no relation to the financial Charles Schwab), who became the company's first president and first chairman of its board of directors.  Under their leadership, Bethlehem Steel Corporation became the second-largest steel provider in the nation.