Friends and associates of Robert Lee Clay, a prominent Baltimore businessman and advocate for minority firms, remained shocked and saddened yesterday over his unresolved shooting death Monday.
They also refused to accept indications from city police that Clay, 58, might have committed suicide. Police said Monday that Clay had been shot, but an autopsy to determine whether his death was a homicide or suicide was not complete yesterday, a police spokesman said.
"I am more than shocked," said Arnold Jolivet, president of the American Minority Contractors and Businesses Association Inc. in Washington. Jolivet said he is leading an effort among minority contractors to pressure police officials to determine who killed Clay. He said that even if the medical examiner rules the death a suicide, "no one that I know will ever accept that."
Clay's daughter, Sharon Clay, said she found her father on the floor of his office on Brookfield Avenue on Monday morning. She said he had told her that he had recently received death threats.
Robert Clay's friends said he had recently received a large contract for construction work at First Baptist Church of Guilford in Columbia.
The Laurel resident rose from poverty and founded Robert Clay Inc. in 1968. He won contracts for portions of the Baltimore Metro subway system and Fort McHenry Tunnel. He founded the Maryland Minority Contractors Association and spearheaded legislation for minority participation in public contracts.
"There are a lot of elected officials who really, really owe him," said Del. Jill P. Carter, a Baltimore Democrat.
In 2004, Gov. Robert L. Ehrlich Jr. appointed Clay a member of the state's Commission on Minority Business Enterprise Reform.
Clay was a controversial figure who twice prevailed over charges he was involved in shootings. He also led efforts to try to sully Martin O'Malley's reputation. In 1999, he was part of a group distributing leaflets that tried to tie O'Malley to white supremacists. This year, a flier he distributed questioned all aspects of the mayor's leadership.
Clay's friends said he may have been a hardball politico, but that he was a Robin Hood character to the city's poor.
"It broke my heart to hear he died," said Wayne R. Frazier Sr., president of the Maryland-Washington Minority Contractors Association. "If it was murder, I hope they catch [the person] and put him to death."
