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February 25, 2002
Dr. Eduard Ascher, a psychiatrist who taught at the Johns Hopkins University for 49 years, died Thursday in a Towson nursing home of congestive heart failure. He was 86.
A native of Vienna, Austria, Dr. Ascher emigrated to the United States in 1938 to escape the Nazis' domination of his country.
"He always said, 'Bred in Vienna, a crumb in Baltimore,'" said his wife, Amalie Adler Ascher.
He was a specialist in group therapy and a nationally known expert on Tourette's syndrome, a neurological disorder that causes people to make involuntary movements or sounds, including uttering profanity in some cases.
During the administration of President Harry S. Truman - who was renowned for his colorful language - a Time magazine reporter once asked Dr. Ascher whether the president was a Tourette's sufferer, according to his wife, who could not recall the doctor's reply.
Dr. Ascher was schooled in Vienna and attended the University of Vienna School of Medicine until 1938, when Adolf Hitler took control of Austria. That year, he was expelled from the university because he was Jewish.
A cousin in St. Louis urged him to emigrate.
"He went by train to Switzerland," his wife said. "He used to tell about the journey - how the Nazi guards got on the train and said, 'You, get off, and you, get off,' and how everyone held their breath until they were gone. He talked about the emotions they all felt when the train crossed the [Swiss] border, and they were free."
Dr. Ascher's brother and two sisters also escaped Austria, but his parents' attempts to leave were repeatedly thwarted, and they died in Nazi concentration camps, Mrs. Ascher said.
Dr. Ascher told an interviewer for The Evening Sun in 1989 that he lost his religious faith after the Holocaust. But he never lost his sense of humor, his wife said.
"At cocktail parties he always held court," his wife said. "He could tell the same joke 59 times and people would always laugh, because he told it. He was the perfect raconteur."
A longtime North Baltimore resident, Dr. Ascher received his medical degree from Washington University in St. Louis in 1942 and came to Johns Hopkins as a psychiatric resident in 1943. In 1946, he began teaching there as an instructor. He became an assistant professor in 1949 and an associate professor in 1973.
He also served on the faculties of the University of Maryland School of Medicine and the Washington School of Psychiatry. He was a consultant in group psychotherapy for Crownsville State Hospital from 1955 to 1970, and for the Baltimore City public school system from 1966 to 1970.
He maintained a private practice from 1952 until his retirement in 1995.
No services are planned.
In addition to his wife, he is survived by two sons, Thomas Barry Ascher of Baltimore and John Bryan Ascher of Leesburg, Va.; a daughter, Cynthia Ascher Sokolow of Baltimore; and a stepson, Kenneth Charles Weinberg of Baltimore.
June 10, 2002
Arthur Vernon Bachman, who founded Intrastate Freight Lines in Baltimore, died Friday of cancer at his Fallston home. He was 89.
Mr. Bachman was born at his parents' home in Fallston. He graduated from Youth's Benefit School, a two-room school near Fallston, and attended Bel Air High School.
He worked for a few years with his father in a family-owned lumber business, Arthur L. Bachman Sawmill in Fallston. He then worked for Glenn L. Martin Co. in Middle River for several years before starting his trucking business.
Mr. Bachman began his company at Pier 4 on Pratt Street in 1937 and operated it until its sale in 1959.
His trucking business hauled goods, including oil, steel, soft drinks and food, from area manufacturers to Baltimore's piers for shipping. At its height, the company ran more than 30 trucks.
"He volunteered the day after Pearl Harbor for the Army. He went to volunteer, and they wouldn't take him. They needed him to operate the trucking business for the war effort," said his son, Thomas A. Bachman of Fallston.
In the years after he sold his company, Mr. Bachman managed a trucking operation for a friend in Elkton and drove trucks for several other businesses, including a White Marsh concrete and stone company.
"He enjoyed that as much as he did anything else because he didn't have the pressures of the business to deal with," his son said.
After Mr. Bachman retired at age 65, he preferred to spend winters in Fort Lauderdale, Fla. He enjoyed fishing, as well as small-game hunting.
He was a member of Fallston United Methodist Church.
After World War II, he earned a pilot's license and bought a surplus Navy trainer plane that he kept at Harbor Field in Dundalk. A few years later he bought an Ercoupe plane.
He enjoyed taking family and friends on short flights, and took many for bird's-eye views of their homes and communities. He also flew to Ocean City and Atlantic City, N.J.
His son recalled many flights in the two-seater airplane.
"He was a very good navigator. He never got lost, and he always could tell me where we were," he said.
Mr. Bachman was married for 58 years to the former Isabelle Hitchcock, who died in 1988.
A funeral service will be at noon today at McComas Funeral Home, 50 W. Broadway in Bel Air.
In addition to his son, he is survived by a daughter, Susan B. Shockley of Ocean City; a sister, Lucille B. Daneker of Fallston; seven grandchildren; and 13 great-grandchildren.
June 4, 2002
Arnold F. Baltus, a retired foundry worker who enjoyed fishing and crabbing, died Friday of pulmonary failure at the Charlestown Retirement Community in Catonsville. The longtime Overlea resident was 88.
Born in Baltimore and raised in Hamilton, Mr. Baltus was a graduate of the city's Vocational High School. In 1931, he began working at Flynn & Emich Foundry in Pimlico. An iron molder, he retired in 1975.
He was a 44-year communicant of St. Michael the Archangel Roman Catholic Church in Overlea.
Mr. Baltus liked fishing, crabbing and water-skiing at his summer home in Bayside Beach in Anne Arundel County. He also enjoyed working in his garden, playing cards and woodworking.
Mr. Baltus was married in 1941 to Ruby Kitchen, who died in 1990.
A Mass of Christian burial was offered yesterday in the chapel at Charlestown.
Mr. Baltus is survived by a son, Brian R. Baltus of Glen Rock, Pa.; three daughters, June B. Scott of Grasonville, Janice M. Scott of Pasadena and Rosemary Ross of Baltimore; nine grandchilden; and two great-grandchildren.
August 1, 2002
Nola R. Barry, a former private duty nurse who enjoyed preparing Southern-style meals for family and friends, died of Alzheimer's disease Monday at HCR Manor Care Dulaney Towson. She was 84.
Born Nola Reese and raised in Marshal, N.C., she graduated from high school there, then moved to Baltimore to attend the old Sinai Hospital School of Nursing on East Monument Street.
She worked for many years as a nurse at Johns Hopkins Hospital before becoming a private duty nurse. She retired in 1982.
In 1939, she married Joseph P. Barry, a rigger at Bethlehem Steel's Key Highway shipyard. He died in 1987.
She was a longtime resident of the Eastwood section of Baltimore County.
In addition to cooking, Mrs. Barry enjoyed making ceramics.
She was a member of Central Baptist Church in Essex.
Services will be held at 11:30 a.m. today at Charles S. Zeiler & Son Funeral Home, 6224 Eastern Ave., Essex.
Mrs. Barry is survived by two daughters, Lorraine Johnson of White Marsh and Diana Severn of Golden Ring; three brothers, Frank Reese of Perry Hall, J. Edd Reese of Marshal and Bartley Reese of Hudson, N.C.; a sister, Colleen R. Ball of Marshal; four grandchildren; and three great-grandchildren. Her son, Jody Barr, died in 1961.
June 16, 2002
Morris P. Berke, a retired vending machine company owner who was active in the state Democratic Party, died of cancer yesterday at Marriott's Brighton Gardens of Pikesville. He was 86 and lived in Owings Mills.
The owner of the Calvert Vending Co., a business in the 1000 block of W. Baltimore St. that supplied cigarette and candy machines, he was among a group of World War II ex-servicemen who organized the G.I. Veterans Taxicab Association in the 2300 block of Greenmount Ave. Family members said he helped secure the necessary permits from the Public Service Commission and the Packard vehicles the cab fleet used.
He also owned Calvert Publishing, a music business that owned the rights to the 1953 song "Are You Looking for a Sweetheart?" recorded by vocalist Kitty Kallen as well as the Orioles, the Crickets and the Runarounds.
Born in Baltimore, he was raised in the 600 block of W. Lexington St., where his father had a meat market at which Mr. Berke worked as a young man. He was a 1934 graduate of City College.
During World War II, he served in the Army and was stationed in England, France and Germany as a hospital aide. He attained the rank of sergeant.
Board chairman of the United Democrats' former 2nd District, he was active in one of the state's largest political clubs, based in Northwest Baltimore. He was appointed a justice of the peace by Govs. J. Millard Tawes and Spiro T. Agnew.
"He was an energetic man, always on the go, who knew everybody wherever he went," said his nephew Elliot S. Berke of Washington. "He never went into a restaurant - he ate out most nights in Little Italy or at Tio Pepe's - that he wasn't talking to people. He was a real man about town. He was Baltimore to the core."
Mr. Berke played golf at local courses.
Services will be held at noon Wednesday at Sol Levinson and Bros., 8900 Reisterstown Road.
He is survived by his brother, Dr. Joseph Berke of Orlando, Fla.; and another nephew, Joel N. Berke of Pasadena, Calif. His companion of more than 20 years, Judy Verbin, died in 1994.
June 14, 2002
Virginia Lee Berlau, a homemaker and nursery school teacher, died Tuesday of a brain tumor at her Timonium home. She was 64.
A member of Timonium United Methodist Church, she taught in its nursery school for 15 years and its Sunday school for 22 years. She was also active in its Women's Circle.
Born in Baltimore and raised in Rosedale, the former Virginia Lee Canapp was a 1956 graduate of Kenwood High School. She attended the Patricia Stevens Finishing School.
She enjoyed watching Orioles baseball, Ravens football and University of Maryland basketball games.
Services will be held at 11 a.m. today at her church, at Pot Spring and Chantry roads.
Survivors include her husband of nearly 40 years, Donald H. Berlau Sr.; two sons, Donald H. Berlau Jr. of Cockeysville and James M. Berlau of Orlando, Fla.; two brothers, Robert Canapp of Abingdon and Roy Canapp of Essex; and a grandson.
August 20, 2002
Patricia C. Berlin, a retired interior decorator and artist, died of respiratory failure Friday at Edenwald retirement community in Towson. She was 83.
Born Patricia Cleary in Chicago, she was raised in Santa Monica, Calif., where she graduated from high school. She earned her bachelor's degree in interior design from the University of Michigan in 1944.
She was married that year to Dr. Theodore H. Berlin, a Johns Hopkins University physics professor. In 1961, the couple moved from Towson to Scarsdale, N.Y., when her husband was appointed to the faculty of Rockefeller University in New York.
Mrs. Berlin's husband died in 1962, the same year that she was named interior design assistant to the university's president. She retired in 1984.
In 1968, she married Robert B. Mitchell, retired editor of National Underwriter, an insurance publication. He died in 1996.
A painter who worked in oils and watercolors, Mrs. Berlin exhibited her work at the Smithsonian Institution's Museum of History and Technology, Rockefeller University and Rutgers University Medical School.
A memorial service will be held at 11 a.m. today at Immaculate Conception Roman Catholic Church, Baltimore and Ware avenues, Towson.
Survivors include four sons, Dennis A. Berlin of Phoenix, Geoffrey N. Berlin of Atlanta, Michael K. Berlin of Bethlehem, Pa., and Alexander L. Berlin of Dallas; a brother, Roger Cleary of Eustis, Fla.; and six grandchildren.
April 27, 2002
David R. Bert, a World War II veteran and longtime insurance manager and Lutherville resident, died Monday of heart and kidney disease at Oakcrest Village Care Center. He was 86.
Born in New York City, he grew up in northern New Jersey, where he met Virginia Goossens. They married in 1944, when she took a train to meet him at his army base in Great Bend, Kan.
Soon afterward, he was sent to the Pacific Theater with the 1915th Engineering Aviation Battalion and spent a year in Okinawa. The battalion was preparing to invade Japan when the United States dropped atomic bombs on Hiroshima and Nagasaki, ending the war.
"They were all so thankful at the time that they would not be heading for Japan," his wife said.
After the war, Mr. Bert went to work for Glens Falls Insurance Co. in Baltimore. After 24 years as manager of its engineering and audit department, he spent nine years with its successor, Continental Insurance Co., before retiring in 1980.
"He was very good at what he did," his wife said.
After living in Lutherville for 34 years, Mr. Bert moved to Oakcrest Village in 1996.
Services were held Friday at Dulaney Valley Memorial Gardens in Timonium.
In addition to his wife of 57 years, he is survived by two sons, Dr. Gary Bert of Phoenix, Md., and Dr. Jeffrey Bert of Durham, Conn.; and four grandchildren.
June 6, 2001
Wilson James Binebrink, a Baltimore painter whose official portraits hang in the State House in Annapolis, Baltimore City Hall and many private collections, died Thursday of a heart attack at his Bolton Hill home. He was 84.
Mr. Binebrink worked in the third-floor studio of his West Lanvale Street rowhouse. His primary artistic endeavor was in portraiture, which he began while a student at the Maryland Institute, College of Art in the late 1930s.
Fifteen of his portraits hang today in the State House, including those of Gov. J. Millard Tawes, Comptroller Louis L. Goldstein and other legislative officials. Four are in City Hall, including one of Mayor Thomas J. D'Alesandro Jr.
"A portrait is a biography," Mr. Binebrink said in a 1971 interview in The Sun. "The personality should be expressed in the way you pose a person, in the movement of the clothing and in the color and expression. I always aim for the truth rather than a pretty picture."
To that end, Mr. Binebrink was meticulous in studying a portrait subject before putting brush to canvas.
He envisioned how the person looked, sought the best light and, during the first sitting, tried to determine elements of the person's character and personality to help him choose the appropriate pose.
"I first figure out the composition, including the space around the portrait," he said in the interview. "Then I make a drawing and finally arrive at the size of the canvas. Painting studies give me a chance to work with the face. Sometimes, after I know more about the person, I will completely change in midcourse."
When he painted Mr. Tawes in 1970, a rumor circulated that Helen Avalynne Tawes wanted to be painted alongside her husband. She was told that sort of thing was not done in official portraits. But she appears in the painting as a framed photograph sitting on a fireplace mantle.
Mr. Binebrink said later that the story was untrue. While painting, he was faced with the problem of a large space over the fireplace and suggested that Mr. Tawes bring some articles from his office that might be useful. Several photographs were among them, including one that showed Mrs. Tawes standing at the foot of the stairway in the Government House that was just what he wanted.
"It fitted in perfectly with what I wanted," Mr. Binebrink wrote in a 1995 letter to The Sun. "I painted it on the canvas and made it larger than the print. When the governor entered the studio and saw the portrait, he walked up close to examine it ... then he told me that from a distance it appeared to him that it was an actual photograph that I had pasted on the canvas."
"He was a really fine artist and a great portrait painter," said Ann Didusch Schuler, co-founder of Baltimore's Schuler School of Fine Arts.
Charles Cross is a portrait painter in Los Angeles who had known Mr. Binebrink for nearly 60 years. "They were very strong and a very good likeness," he said of his friend's portraits. "He was also a good colorist and because he was also a graduate of the Rhinehart School of Sculpture, his work shows a wonderful understanding of form."
"I was always struck by their precision, and I admired his technique. They were tight and always had very representational and clean lines," said Richard R. Harwood III, an art dealer and appraiser who owns the Purnell Gallery in Baltimore.
"You're influenced by many," Mr. Binebrink explained in the 1971 interview. "The portrait of Pope Innocent X by Velazquez is probably the best portrait in Europe. One reason it's so great is that it's a truthful portrait."
Of his own work, he said in 1971, "But somewhere during the painting, something else takes over and that's when I do my best work. You need a combination of thinking and emotion."
Born in Centreville and raised in Ridgely, Mr. Binebrink was a 1938 graduate of the Maryland Institute, where he later taught for 18 years.
During World War II, he served in the Army Air Forces as an official War Department artist, and was later sent to the Aleutian Islands and Alaska. He was discharged with the rank of lieutenant in 1946.
He was a licensed pilot.
In 1930, he married Mary Virginia Hellen, who died in 1983.
Services were held yesterday.
Mr. Binebrink is survived by two brothers, Thomas W. Binebrink of Annapolis and Robert Binebrink of Salisbury; and three sisters, Edith S. Dulin of Salisbury, Mildred Paessler of Richmond, Va., and Margaret Ebling of Ridgely.
