Haysbert's condition stable after heart attack

Raymond V. Haysbert, the 79-year-old former chairman of Parks Sausage Co., was in stable condition last night at Good Samaritan Hospital after suffering a heart attack Sunday evening at a political fund-raiser, his family said.

Haysbert was speaking at an event for City Council candidate Sylvia Williams in Northeast Baltimore when he fell and hit his head. Cardiopulmonary resuscitation was performed until paramedics arrived.

It was the second heart attack for Haysbert, who in 1952 joined the sausage business started in Baltimore by Henry G. Parks Jr. In 1969, the company became the first minority-owned firm in the United States to go public.

Parks filed for bankruptcy protection in 1996 as part of a purchase plan by former NFL star Franco Harris. Harris sold local production facilities to a Philadelphia firm this year.