Havre de Grace lost a “good friend” early Wednesday morning.
Lifelong resident Vince Way, 59, died shortly after 3 a.m. at Johns Hopkins Hospital in Baltimore, according to an e-mail from his sister-in-law, Susie Angelucci.
Friends said Way contracted pneumonia while recovering from a Nov. 30 bone marrow transplant to treat chronic lymphatic leukemia. He was diagnosed with the cancer in 1998, and had battled it on and off since then.
“The citizens [of Havre de Grace] have lost a good friend,” said City Council President Fred Cullum.
Way served with Cullum on the council from 2004 until May. A resurgence of the cancer last January forced Way not to seek re-election.
It was one of many service roles Way had, including lifetime memberships in the Havre de Grace Ambulance Corps and the Susquehanna Hose Company, both of which he joined in the early 1970s. A U.S. Army veteran of Vietnam, Way also served as a Havre de Grace police officer. Afterward, he worked for the federal government at Aberdeen Proving Ground until his retirement.
During an interview with The Examiner in October, Way said a marrow transplant was his only hope of surviving the most recent onset of the cancer.
“He had actually been doing very well,” said Chad Packard, a family friend and deputy chief of the Susquehanna Hose Company.
Packard said Way?s blood type had converted over to that of the donor?s marrow, which is one of the early signs a transplant is working. But in his weakened state, he contracted pneumonia.
Mark Hemler, a friend and fellow volunteer with the Havre de Grace Ambulance Corps, said Way came down with pneumonia before the new year, and that antibiotics did not help.
Way is survived by his wife, Debbie; a son, Robert; a daughter, Jennifer; and five grandchildren. Funeral arrangements had not been announced as of Wednesday afternoon.
