Richard Roberts Harwood Jr., a former business executive who later owned and operated a Charles Street art gallery, died of cancer Saturday at his North Baltimore home. He was 87.
Known as "Boots," Mr. Harwood filled his Purnell Galleries with etchings of old Baltimore, Civil War-era lithographs and sporting prints, as well as traditional oil paintings and ceramics.
In 1975, he and his wife bought the art gallery, then one of Baltimore's oldest fine art dealers. He worked there daily until 1997 and owned the business at his death.
"Boots had an elegance and dignity about him," said Mary Frances Wagley, a former St. Paul School for Girls headmistress. "He was a lovely man who had great patience and would explain exactly what he was selling."
Born in Baltimore and raised on Roland Avenue, he was a 1939 Polytechnic Institute graduate. He served in the Army during World War II and earned a degree at Princeton University.
He worked at a local publishing firm, the Manufacturers Record, and in 1956 he joined Young & Selden Co., a bank stationery firm, where he rose to become chairman and chief executive officer. In 1962, he was named president of a Black & Decker air tool subsidiary, Master Power Corp. in Solon, Ohio. A year later, he became Master Power's chairman and corporate vice president of administration for B&D worldwide operations.
Mr. Harwood went on to be administrative vice president and corporate secretary of the Arundel Corp. and in 1969 was named president of the Barton-Cotton Co., a printing and graphics firm.
Family members said Mr. Harwood had always wanted to run his own business. After the opportunity came to buy the gallery at Charles and Mulberry streets, he soon began filling its window with pictures of sailing ships, the Shot Tower and the Washington Monument. Customers said he often displayed prints and paintings in a gallery setting outfitted with chintz-covered wing chairs and Oriental rugs.
"He said he enjoyed his years as an art dealer as much as anything he had ever done," said his son Richard R. Harwood III, who now operates the gallery at the Mill Centre on Chestnut Avenue. "He liked the old Baltimore views and was not at all infatuated with contemporary art."
The senior Mr. Harwood was a past president of the Baltimore Junior Association of Commerce.
