The Memorial Wall

Salvatore “Sam” Prestianni, a retired Social Security Administration executive who coached youth baseball in Catonsville, died of Parkinson’s disease complications April 9 at his Ellicott City home. He was 90.

Born in Baltimore, he was the son of Sicilian immigrants, Frank Prestianni, a Baltimore and Ohio Railroad office clerk, and Katie Liberto, a homemaker.

He was raised in downtown Baltimore near Lexington Market, and spent his childhood in a Greene Street rowhouse. He was baptized at St. John the Baptist Church (now St. Jude Shrine).

“The house was filled with extended family, including aunts and uncles and cousins and three sisters,” said his son Sam Prestianni. “They were active in the St. John’s community, loved the church events like street fairs, bingo nights, spaghetti dinners, the annual May Procession led by the Knights of the Italian-American Society.”

His son said Mr. Prestianni attended St. John’s School, where the nuns taught him to mind his language.

“My father later wrote in a memoir, ‘The first admonition I received from the nuns was for my foul mouth. I used to cuss freely; this was the language I was accustomed to both in the house and on the street. But they put the fear of God in me. I remember pledging that I would never curse again. And I didn’t.”

At the age of 10, Mr. Prestianni started working at Lexington Market selling grocery bags and soon joined his mother’s cousin Carmello Liberto, who ran a fruit and vegetable stall.

“My eyes were surely opened from here on out, as I garnered all the tricks of life by working there until I graduated from college, some 11 years later,” Mr. Prestianni wrote in his memoir, “Fast Years.”

He played baseball in parking lots near Lexington Market and went to as many minor league Orioles games he could sneak into. He dreamed of playing in the big leagues, his son said.

When his home parish formed a Little League team, he was one of the first to join. He played basketball, baseball and soccer at Calvert Hall College High School and at what is now Loyola University Maryland, where he earned a degree.

In his memoir, Mr. Prestianni recalled walking a few blocks for movies at the Stanley, the Mayfair and the Howard theaters. He liked to dance and attended musical events at the Cahill Recreation Center near Walbrook, the old Fourteen Holy Martyrs Church and the Alcazar Ballroom on Cathedral Street. He also danced on moonlight cruises aboard Chesapeake Bay excursion boats.

He served in the Army and worked in a traveling audit agency in Salt Lake City and San Francisco from 1954 to 1956. Mr. Prestianni met his future wife, Margaret Mary Kantzes, in Ocean City. They married in 1964.

Skilled in mathematics and accounting, Mr. Prestianni was fascinated by numbers — he calculated odds, and delighted in studying weird number coincidences and sports statistics.

“He never gambled on horses with big money because he was too prudent,” his son said. “Yet he often came home with decent winnings.”

He went into accounting. Among his jobs were posts at the old Baltimore Transit Co., Glenn L. Martin Co. and Federal Power Commission. He joined the Social Security Administration in 1963.

Mr. Prestianni moved through the ranks as an accountant, auditor, analyst, and director. He retired in 1990 as a special assistant to SSA’s then-chief financial officer Norman Goldstein.

Mr. Prestianni was awarded the Department of the Treasury’s first annual award for distinction in cash management.

After moving to Catonsville, he coached baseball, football and basketball teams for the old Catonsville Midget League and basketball for St. Mark’s Roman Catholic Church.

“Sam was a blend of Damon Runyon and Walt Disney,” said the Rev. Christopher Whatley, former St. Mark’s pastor. “He knew you always need a few characters in your life and he always saw the good in others. His role was making those he loved happy, especially his children and grandchildren.”

“My father was an inspiring coach because he always made sure everyone on the team got playing time, and when his team was crushing the opponent, he would give the kids on the bench more time to play so the score wouldn’t be a complete blowout,” his son said. “He also threw festive team parties with trophies and pizza at the end of every season.”

After the death of his first wife in 1983, Mr. Prestianni married Bobbie Reinecke Mitchell, an artist and nurse. They lived in Ellicott City.

His son said Mr. Prestianni was a spiritual person. He was initially reluctant to remarry after his first wife’s death. When a rose they had planted many years before came back to life after lying dormant near a religious shrine in his backyard, he took it as a sign.

Survivors include his wife of 22 years, Bobbie Reinecke Mitchell, a nurse and artist; five sons, Frank Prestianni of Owings Mills, Sam Prestianni of Oakland, California, Bill Prestianni of Eldersburg, David Prestianni of Hagerstown and Jack Mitchell of Pompano Beach, Florida; two daughters, Julie Mitchell of Relay and Nancy Gumbel of Elkridge; and 12 grandchildren.

Washington County Attorney Pete Orput, who was due to retire later this year, has died at the age of 66.

It was confirmed by the county that Orput died at his Stillwater home while "surrounded by his family" on Sunday, though a cause of death has not yet been confirmed.

Orput announced in January he would not be seeking re-election and planned to retire at the end of 2022. He was diagnosed with Parkinson's Disease in 2020.

He had held the position of Washington County Attorney since 2010, prior to which he was an assistant to the Hennepin County Attorney, and also roles as general counsel for the Minnesota Department of Corrections and as a Deputy Minnesota Attorney General.

Among those paying tribute is St. Croix Valley senator Karin Housley, who said: "So sad to hear of the passing of our amazing Washington Cty Attorney, Pete Orput.

"He was one of the greatest guys on the planet, was wonderful to work with, and he became a great friend to the Housley family. We will all miss you, Pete. Thank you for your service."

Orput is survived by his wife Tami, six children and six grandchildren.

Malayalam actor Jagadish's wife Dr P Rema died on Friday morning. She was 61 and the former head of the forensic department of Thiruvananthapuram Medical College. Rema and Jagadish have two daughters Dr Ramya and Dr Soumya.

Rema had been suffering from Parkinson’s disease for the last six years and had been bed-ridden for over a year. Actor Edavela Babu has confirmed that she was suffering from Parkinson’s disease, as reported by Manorama online.

Jagadish is a popular character actor and comedian in Malayalam cinema. Some of his best roles are in movies such as Godfather, Junior Mandrake, Hitler and Welcome to Kodaikanal among others.

Longtime Metro Nashville high school basketball coach Tommy Frensley died Wednesday, according to his family. He was 83 and had suffered from Parkinson's disease.

Frensley spent a total of 36 years as a boy’s head coach — 29 at Hillsboro and seven at Donelson Christian Academy. His career record was 632-304.

The court at Hillsboro was named in Frensley's honor in 2007. He was at Hillsboro from 1965-94 and won a total of 494 games, nine district tiles and two region titles. He led the Burros to the state tournament in 1972, 1974 and 1979.

Frensley, who played basketball at old Howard High and Belmont, was The Tennessean's Nashville Interscholastic League Coach of the Year in 1972. 

He was part of the inaugural class inducted into the Hillsboro Sports Hall of Fame in 2013.

"There are so many lives that coach Frensley impacted," said Joe Gaskins, who played at Hillsboro from 1975-78.

"It was far more than just in coaching, even in teaching. He was a guy that really taught life lessons to every individual who was with him whether you were a player, a manager, a student. And he was guy that made everything fun. He made everything exciting, and he was always positive."

When Frensley became the coach at DCA the Wildcats had only won a total of 10 games the previous two years.

Former DCA athletics director Dennis Goodwin credited Frensley with resurrecting the program after he posted a 139-72 record and led the 1998 team to the state tournament.

Frensley coached several other sports throughout his career including assisting with the Hillsboro girls’ team when it transitioned from 6-on-6 to 5-on-5 in 1979.

Dave Garets, whose four decades of experience in healthcare and technology included work as a technical specialist at AT&T, a hospital chief information officer, a management consultant and early leadership at HIMSS Analytics, died Monday at age 73.

He passed away March 28, following a long battle with Parkinson's disease.

Garets, whose work at AT&T in the 1980s was followed by years as CIO of Magic Valley Regional Medical Center in Idaho in the 1990s, was a visionary who saw the immense potential of information and technology to improve care delivery.

He was an early proselytizer about the value of electronic health records – but also warned about the importance of ensuring they're implemented effectively. He also foresaw the evolving role of the healthcare CIO over the past decade or so, into "a businessperson as opposed to a technology person."

As a remembrance posted by HIMSS explained, "Dave believed that if technology was uniformly adopted in healthcare, then caring for patients would be greatly enhanced and outcomes would improve and become more predictable.

"Two ideas formed from his healthcare IT experience. One was that the technology had to meet certain standards because healthcare IT affects people's lives. The second idea was that healthcare IT had to be universally adopted to obtain the maximum benefit to society."

His term as HIMSS board chair "took the entire health information technology sector in new directions that shaped HIT adoption trends and federal HIT policy for more than a decade," according to HIMSS (parent company of Healthcare IT News).

In 2004, Garets was chosen to lead the new HIMSS Analytics division.

There, he co-developed its EMR Adoption Model, which over the past two decades has been the go-to assessment to benchmark health IT implementation and use in hospitals and ambulatory practices. His promotion of EMRAM in the U.S. and throughout the world was instrumental in helping drive uptake and effective deployment of technology at health systems large and small.

In 2011, Garets was voted one of the 50 most valuable contributors to health IT in the past half-century by HIMSS boards of directors.

His other professional experience includes tenures at CHIME, Gartner, The Advisory Board Company, Mountain Summit Advisors, and other healthcare and technology organizations.

"Dave was an incredible leader, pioneer and advocate for the power of information and technology to transform healthcare," said Hal Wolf, president, and CEO of HIMSS.

"As we work to reimagine health and health equity for all, we stand on the shoulders of giants like Dave. He often said, 'We’re always better together than separate in the battle of care.' The global health ecosystem has lost a great visionary in Dave, but we will continue to benefit from his tremendous contributions for years to come."

Charles E. Baublitz Jr., a decorated retired Anne Arundel County firefighter who was an enthusiastic rail fan and devoted collector of model trains, died of multiple medical conditions, including Parkinson’s disease, Sunday at his Woodbine home. He was 76.

“Charlie was a class act. He was more than a friend, he was a brother to us in the fire service,” said Bill Poteet, a retired Anne Arundel County firefighter, who is president of the Anne Arundel County Retired Firefighters Association. “He was well liked and well respected and was very conscientious about the job and took it very seriously.”

Charles Edward Baublitz Jr., son of Charles E. Baublitz Sr., a Bethlehem Steel Corp. worker, and his wife, Ethel May Thompson Baublitz, was born at home on Wasena Avenue in Brooklyn Park.

Mr. Baublitz, who was raised in Brooklyn Park, attended Brooklyn Park and Andover high schools, and later earned his GED diploma while serving in the Army from 1965. He spent a year in the Netherlands and Belgium serving with NATO Headquarters Allied Forces Central Europe.

Mr. Baublitz’s path to becoming a firefighter began at 16, when he became a volunteer at the Ferndale Volunteer Department.

“I first met him when I was 16 and we were both volunteers at Ferndale. Charlie was a little bit older, and I looked up to him,” Mr. Poteet said. “He taught me a lot about firefighting and was truly a role model for me.”

After he was discharged from the Army, he was working at General Motors Corp. on Broening Highway, and after taking the Anne Arundel County Fire Department test as a member of Class Three, he was hired as a firefighter in 1969.

“He was at General Motors and then they went on strike,” said his wife of nearly 51 years, the former Eleandra Ann “Ellie” Mullenax, a former longtime Baltimore Sun newsroom editorial assistant. “The fire department called him on Friday, and he started working there on Monday.”

Mr. Baublitz was assigned to Ferndale Station 34, where he spent 27 1/2 years and worked his way up to Firefighter III, or engineman, who is also known as a pump operator and equipment driver.

Ron Galella, the celebrity photographer whose pursuit of Jacqueline Kennedy Onassis resulted in a restraining order against him after he stalked her for years, died at age 91 on April 30, 2022, at his home in Montville, N.J., of congestive heart failure. (Carlo Allegri/AP)

“I worked with Charlie at various times and he was a very good engineman and driver, and if you had to rely on a pump operator and driver, he was the guy you wanted to be with,” Mr. Poteet said.

The two men along with fellow firefighters were called to a Glen Burnie house fire one day where a mother and two children were inside the house.

“Our crew had been ventilating the fire and then we went inside looking for the victims who were rescued by another crew as we went in,” said Mr. Poteet, who attained the rank of captain and retired in 1995 from the Linthicum Station. “And we were given a commendation for our participation in the rescue operation.”

Ms. Baublitz said: “Charles earned several commendations for performance in helping save lives during serious house fires.”

Jim Lenz, a fellow firefighter, had worked with Mr. Baublitz at Ferndale in the mid-1970s, and retired from the department in 1996 as a pumpman.

“Charlie was a hands-on guy who could fix anything. There wasn’t a lot of money for the department in those days, so we had to fix things ourselves,” Mr. Lenz recalled. “If we got into trouble, Charlie got us out of it. You’d watch him and you learned by osmosis.”

He praised Mr. Baublitz for being a “master fabricator.”

“If he needed a part to fix the equipment, he made it himself so we could keep the fire engines moving,” Mr. Lenz said. “At the time, we were still driving 1957 engines. Charlie was an excellent driver. He never had any crashes and got us there on time, so we could put the wet stuff on the red stuff.”

During off-hours, Mr. Baublitz and another firefighter, the late Melvin Morrison, operated a home improvement business for 25 years.

“Whether they were fighting fires or installing siding and windows, they knew what they were doing,” Mr. Lenz said.

Lois H. Feinblatt was a pioneering sex therapist who practiced with the Johns Hopkins Sex and Gender Clinic for more than three decades and was a also a philanthropist. (handout)

“Charlie was quiet, unlike most fire department people who tend to be boisterous,” Mr. Lenz said with a laugh. “He also liked doing the occasional prank. He’d sneak up on you, so you really had to keep him in sight. No one ever got hurt and they were just fun, and he was just good at it.”

Robert Bailey, who worked with Mr. Baublitz for nearly eight years at Ferndale, retired in 1992 from Engine 32 in Linthicum where he had been a pump operator.

“Charlie was a born leader who liked to teach,” Mr. Bailey said. “We got along together and I used to eat breakfast, lunch and dinner at the firehouse with him during a shift. He was just a jolly old guy who’d help anybody and would give you the shirt off his back.”

He added with a laugh: “And I became his personal chef.”

Mr. Baublitz spent the last few years of his career at Glen Burnie Station 33, from which he retired in 1996. He later returned to work in 2005 when he took a job as a stockman for Boscov’s Department Store in Westminster Mall, until retiring a second time in 2017.

He had belonged to the fire department’s bowling league for several years and was an active member of the Anne Arundel County Retired Firefighters Association.

Mr. Baublitz’s fascination with railroading and model railroading began in his childhood, his wife said.

Through the years, he had amassed an enormous collection of trains of all gauges and an operating layout that eventually overwhelmed his basement and required the building of what was called his Train House in the yard of his Woodbine home.

“In 2014, we built a 24-by-30-foot building that Charles filled with his trains,” Ms. Baublitz said. The building also included a working layout, along with shelves and shelves of locomotives, and freight and passenger cars.

Mr. Baublitz also had a taste for the real thing — he visited his favorite operating railroad, the Cass Scenic Railroad, many times. The lumber railroad dates back to 1901.

The 11-mile-long standard gauge railroad, officially known as the Cass Scenic Railroad State Park in Pocahontas County, West Virginia, is entirely steam-operated, with the majority of its seven-engine fleet dating to the 1920s, and its most recent to 1945.

Other interests included reading science fiction and going to yard sales and flea markets. He was also a cat fancier.

In 2001, he realized a life dream when he and his wife traveled to England where they spent weeks visiting ancient sites such as Stonehenge.

Funeral services will be held at 1 p.m. Friday at the Burrier-Queen Funeral Home at 1212 W. Old Liberty Road in Sykesville.

In addition to his wife, Mr. Baublitz is survived by two sons, Charles E. Baublitz III of Woodbine and Jerid Baublitz of St. Petersburg, Florida; a brother, James Baublitz of Brooklyn Park; a sister, Ruth Hopson of Westminster; a half-sister, Betty Morgan of Hagerstown; four grandchildren; and several nieces and nephews. A daughter, Jennifer Baublitz, died in 2007.

Jay always had a great smile and a good word for all. He had a twinkle in his eye. He had a glowing light about him that drew you right in. He made sure everyone was included, part of the magic circle that was him. He was intelligent, kind, generous, and we are fortunate to have had him in our lives.

The University of Louisville's "handstand man" — who for nearly three decades entertained spectators with handstands during men's basketball games at Freedom Hall — died Saturday, March 26, 2022.

Sedat Acton, 77, performed his last handstand at a basketball game in 2009 during the Cardinals' last season at Freedom Hall, and his last handstand ever in 2017, shortly after he was diagnosed with Parkinson's disease. 

His wife of more than 40 years, Teresa Acton, also died last month, according to his obituary. The two met in beauty school in 1976 and together owned a salon in east Louisville.

They left behind their three grown children, Anthony Acton, Tijen Lines and Sarah Colombo, as well as eight grandchildren, one great-grandchild, numerous nieces and nephews, and fans who remember him fondly.

Acton was known for getting the crowd rowdy during key moments, especially when the Cardinals were playing rivals like Memphis or Kentucky and needed the inspiration to close out the game. A gifted gymnast, Acton would hoist himself over the handrails of Freedom Hall's upper levels during timeouts and breaks in the action, as Louisville fans in the crowd looked on.

"You hear a roar, look up and thousands of people are cheering for your husband," Teresa told The Courier Journal in 2019.

Acton became interested in gymnastics as a young boy walking the beaches of his native country Turkey, often practicing in his backyard. He watched men perform acrobatic flips and twists on parallel bars and thought it could be a way to conquer polio, which he was diagnosed with as a toddler.

He left Europe for Louisville at age 23 in 1968, where his sister was already living. He joined the gymnastics team at the old YMCA at Third Street and Broadway — the gateway to his first halftime performance at a Louisville basketball game that same year. 

He performed with cheerleaders at football and basketball games, as well as Kentucky Colonels games. It wasn't until 1980 that he performed his first stunt on a Freedom Hall railing. 

Acton once turned down a job performing in Las Vegas to stay in Louisville and build a life with Teresa, and to continue performing at Freedom Hall. He was a common sight at Trinity High School and Sacred Heart Academy athletic events as well.

"I love Louisville because it's small and people understand you," Acton told The Courier Journal in 2019. "If you try hard you will be successful. And I truly believe people should help people, love each other, care about each other. Who knows who needs help and who don't?"

Acton requested any donations made in his name go toward the Bernheim Arboretum and Research Forest in memory of his wife.

Cards fans who were wooed by Acton's stunts were disappointed to hear of his passing.

Richard Cromwell Riggs Jr., the former owner of the Barton Cotton printing firm who led the restoration of the Maryland Club after its 1995 fire, died of Parkinson’s disease complications March 23 at his Poplar Hill home. He was days short of his 83rd birthday.

Born in Baltimore, he grew up in Catonsville and on a Baltimore County farm that is now the Caves Valley Country Club. He was the son of Richard C. Riggs Sr., who bred Hereford cattle, and his wife, Eleanor Allen Reifsnyder, a world traveler.

He attended the Calvert School and was a 1957 graduate of Gilman School. He earned an economics degree with honors from Princeton University and a master’s degree in business from Harvard University.

Mr. Riggs then was a research assistant in corporate finance at Harvard Business School and from 1966 to 1973 worked privately with business partners in venture capital.

He met his future wife, Sheila Benhan Kayser, at a Christmas party in Boston. They married in 1970.

In 1973 Mr. Riggs acquired a financially troubled printing business, Barton Cotton Inc. He expanded its scope and moved it into the direct mail and fundraising fields.

Friends said he brought a rigor and sophistication to what had been a teetering, old line business. He made it highly profitable, they said.

“If you presented Dick with a business proposition, he could get to the essence of the issue quickly. He had a wonderful business mind and was a clear thinking individual,” said Benjamin H. Griswold IV, a longtime friend. “He was a year ahead of me in school and I always looked up to him.”

Mr. Riggs later sold Barton Cotton to American Capital Strategies.

“Dick was a son of Baltimore. His family had long ties to the city and to the countryside around the city, to its history and its present,” said his wife, Sheila. “Those ties were a major part of his soul and informed any number of his activities.”

Dr. James Gieske said, “I met him in kindergarten and Dick was private and dignified then and he never changed. He was skilled at hiding his intelligence. He was an understated person and a great listener. He did a lot of charitable work in Baltimore under the radar for causes that promoted the disadvantaged in the city.”

The Maryland Club, a Mount Vernon neighborhood landmark at Charles and Eager streets, erupted in flames on a Saturday night in Aug., 1995. Mr. Riggs was its president.

Reached by phone while vacationing with his family in Colorado, he flew home and initiated plans for the restoration of the structure. He convened a meeting of the club membership at Gilman School days later and vowed the club would survive. He assured them it was fully insured.

“He was a smart, focused individual and was instrumental times 10 in making the club get open again,” said Walter Schamu, a friend and architect. “Dick had that spark in his eye. He told me he worked by listening to everyone in a room and but then made his own decision. And like a good manager, he stepped back and let people do their jobs.”

His cousin, Clinton R. Daly, said, “Dick had a beautiful mind. He looked at things differently. He was a deep thinker and you could not respond to him immediately. You had to step back and consider what he had said.”

Dr. William F. Fritz, a family friend, said, “From finance to fishing, you could count on Dick’s good advice. He was an avid sportsman who loved the Eastern Shore. His character and ethics were above reproach. His quiet, soft-spoken manner belied his leadership quality and the strong convictions he held.”

Dr. Fritz also said, “Baltimore will always be a bigger city for having Dick Riggs as a citizen.”

Virginia Faye Zeidman passed away peacefully in her sleep on March 23, 2022 in Indian Wells, California at the age of eighty-four. Virginia’s life was filled with friends, family and community that she brought together for celebrations of all kinds. She threw the best parties around that will never be forgotten and she organized groups and took charge as the Queen Mom from a very early age. She loved people and she loved bringing people together. Virginia brought everything to the party, as the saying goes. She never missed a birthday or a chance to make new friends wherever she went in the world.

Virginia was born in Los Angeles on January 20, 1938 and was raised in Glendale, California. She attended local elementary schools and was part of the Brownies, Girl Scouts and Job’s Daughters. At Hoover High School she was elected Senior Class President and Queen of Job’s Daughters, Bethel 131. After high school she attended Whittier College and graduated with a Home Economics degree. She immediately started teaching elementary school and taught her first class the day before turning twenty-one.

Virginia married her first husband, Edward Whitehouse in 1958. They had two boys and she was very involved in their lives. She would throw large birthday parties every year and every major holiday was an event. She was the Cub Scout Den Mother, the School Room-Mother and she ran the Balboa Yacht Club Sailing Program. At the same time she was on the board of several community organizations: the Junior Ebell, Newport Beach City Arts Council and South Coast Repertory Theatre.

In 1986 Virginia married her second husband Alvin Zeidman, her soul mate. Al had four children from a previous marriage whom Virginia became very close with. In her career she became Science Teacher Mentor to teachers in her district and received great satisfaction from this endeavor. Virginia retired from teaching in 1998 and resided in South Orange County with Al until their move to Indian Wells in 2000.

In retirement Virginia was very close to her five grandchildren; loved gardening, cooking and especially traveling. Together Al and Virginia took thirteen trips throughout the USA, eleven trips to Europe and nine trips to Mexico. More than anything else she enjoyed people and shortly after moving to Indian Wells she started the “Fine Feathered Friends” Red Hat Society Club. The ladies had loads of fun together.

Virginia resided in Indian Wells with her husband Al until his passing in 2019. She is survived by her sister Elaine and husband John, her six children; Mark and wife Kathy; Kevin and wife Gina; Jan and husband Jeff; Sue and husband Doug; Steve; Rick and wife Michelle. Virginia had five grandchildren Olivia, Amanda, Robyn, Matthew and Zachary whom she adored.