Paul G. Pratt, the retired proprietor of Roland Park's venerable Schneider Paint & Hardware Store, died Thursday of a heart attack in his apartment above the store, where he had lived for 47 years. He was 71.
Mr. Pratt became a mainstay of the business after his father-in-law asked him one summer day in 1953 to manage the store while he took a vacation. The store appears to be right out of a Norman Rockwell painting and is known and prized for its eclectic and hard-to-find wares.
In 1964, Mr. Pratt purchased the store on the northwest corner of Wyndhurst and Summit avenues. It was established in 1896 as a grocery store in the then-developing community of Roland Park by the Schneider family, who had immigrated to Baltimore from Germany.
Since 1948, the business has been strictly a hardware store, selling a potpourri of items - Victor mousetraps, radiator keys, fuses, birdseed, nuts, bolts, paint, faucets, Christmas lights, wheelbarrows and even crab steamers.
Mr. Pratt prided himself on knowing where everything was in the store, which had wooden floors, 1930s porcelain art deco light fixtures, crammed shelves and walls covered with postcards sent from customers.
"I once rearranged everything, and he was a little upset because he knew where everything was," said a son, Jeff W. Pratt of Roland Park, who started working with his father in 1971 and took over the business in 1989.
Its clientele today includes stockbrokers, judges, social-register members, newlyweds, students and those who prefer the personal service of an old-fashioned hardware store.
Among the customers of the shop are former Oriole Jim Palmer, filmmaker John Waters and novelist Anne Tyler.
Mr. Pratt became a trusted confidante and a valued neighborhood institution, whose advice was highly sought after. He had a well-earned and untarnished reputation for rescuing do-it-yourselfers from disaster.
"I've only been a customer of the store for 436 years," said longtime Roland Park resident and banker Charles Macsherry with a laugh.
"He was a very jovial and nice man. He did suffer fools gladly, and he was the kind of man who would work with you and give you pointers. If he didn't have what you wanted, he tried to think of something else that would work or suggest another place where you could get it," he said.
Sally N. McCabe, who lives on Woodlawn Road, said, "I went there because it was a great hardware store and had all the oddities needed to keep these 100-year-old houses going."
She described Mr. Pratt as a "quick wit" who was "just good company. His death is the passing of an institution and a great loss."
Another attraction at the hardware store that was anxiously anticipated by its customers - in addition to Mr. Pratt's endless store of jokes - was his annual list of predictions, which ranged from the Dow Jones average to geopolitics. He posted his predictions on a wall in the store at the beginning of each year.
"He was successful in predicting the fall of the Berlin Wall. One `Wall Street Week' panelist regularly checked in to compare the Dow Jones average with Dad's," said his son.
Born and raised in Govans, Mr. Pratt was a graduate of Towson Catholic High School and earned a bachelor's degree in 1950 from Loyola College.
He was married that year to Anne Schneider. The marriage ended in divorce.
A recovering alcoholic, Mr. Pratt was proud that he had recently celebrated 35 years of sobriety.
He enjoyed raising Dobermans, sailing on the Chesapeake Bay and vacationing in Ocean City, N.J.
A Mass of Christian burial will be offered at 9:30 a.m. Tuesday at St. Pius X Roman Catholic Church, York and Overbrook roads, Rodgers Forge.
In addition to his son, he is survived by another son, Mark P. Pratt of Hampstead; a daughter, Susan C. Collins of Hydes; a brother, Louis Pratt of Timonium; a sister, Ruth Ortman of Lutherville; and seven grandchildren.
