Walter Sondheim, 98, the 1954 Baltimore City School Board president who quickly moved to integrate city schools after the Brown v. the Board of Education decision, died Thursday at Mercy Medical Center following a bout with pneumonia.
A cross was burned in Sondheim?s front yard as integration progressed, but it did not dissuade the Baltimore native?s purpose then, or in his ensuing five decades of community service. Sondheim was also a former Maryland State Board of Education president and worked as a senior adviser with the Greater Baltimore Committee, a civic and business group, for the past 20 years.
“He still came in every day at 9 a.m.,” said Donald Fry, GBC president and chief executive officer. “For several years our offices were next to each other and each morning he?d come in, and we?d talk about what was in the news that day and in various publications. He drove home every night himself ? at 98. But if we had a 8 p.m. meeting in the community ? he was always there. He was an inspiration to all of us.”
“To describe Walter as active would be understatement,” said GBC spokesman Gene Bracken.
Sondheim?s passing was mourned by friends, state officials and politicians across the city and state. They described him as a man of vision and will who helped build the city economically, and always with eye on social issues.
“Walter Sondheim was a giant of a man,” U.S. Sen. Ben Cardin said in a written statement. “He did not seek the limelight, but sought only to do good works. In 1954, he was instrumental in integrating Baltimore City Public Schools. His leadership and vision were instrumental in the Renaissance of Baltimore. From the Inner Harbor to the Charles Center to the Science Center, Walter had a hand in building the city we see today.”
After retiring from Hochschild, Kohn & Co. in 1970, Sondheim began a 17-year second career as chairman of Charles Center-Inner Harbor Management Inc.
Maryland State Superintendent of Schools Nancy Grasmick knew Sondheim for more than 40 years.
“Walter Sondheim loved Baltimore?s children and Maryland?s children, and sought to improve their lives through better education,” said Grasmick, in a written statement. “He did so with compassion, intelligence, integrity, and an open mind to new ideas. Walter is irreplaceable, and we are all better off for his being a part of our world.”
Just a few of the wide-ranging boards Sondheim chaired include Jewish Family Services, Goodwill Industries, the Baltimore Urban League, the United Negro College Fund, the Baltimore Jewish Council, Baltimore Mental Health Systems and the American Council to Improve Neighborhoods. The entire list numbers nearly 100. He also received honorary doctorates in public service from the University of Maryland at Baltimore and the University of Maryland Baltimore County, as well as awards from The Johns Hopkins University, The Johns Hopkins School of Medicine, Haverford College, Goucher College and Morgan State University.
Sondheim graduated from the Park School in 1925, Haverford in 1929 and served in the Navy during World War II. He died 73 years to the day after he married the former Janet Blum, who passed away inl992. He is survived by his children John Sondheim and Ellen Dankert, and his grandchildren Sarah and Rebecca Baron.
“We were blessed that he was with us so long ? to share his wisdom and his faith in the goodness of his neighbors,” Gov. Martin O?Malley said in a statement.
“He was a wonderful, a delight to be around,” said Martha Lucius, a longtime family friend and owner of the Boheme Cafe on Pratt Street. “He was kind of man that treated everyone equally, which is pretty rare for a person of his stature.”
