Born in New York City to Heinrich Meyer and Augusta Ruprecht, Philip Weltner moved to Augusta, Georgia, at age six with his mother and stepfather, Charles Weltner, a Lutheran minister, who had adopted him. Educated at the University of Georgia and Columbia University, Philip passed the Georgia bar exam and began a career in Atlanta that led to changes in the prison lend/lease system and a reformatory for girls to keep them out of state prisons. He pushed for the creation of the State Board of Regents, served as its first appointee, and was chancellor of the university system until he resigned in protest over Governor Eugene Talmadge's refusal to accept a Public Works Administration loan for needed school renovations. In 1944, he became Oglethorpe University's president and rescued that school from bankruptcy.