He ruled that state Sen. Clarence W. Blount was disqualified from seeking re-election to his Northwest Baltimore seat 11 years ago because "overwhelming" evidence showed he did not live in the district he represented. The Court of Appeals overturned that ruling.
Son of a wholesale hardware salesman and a homemaker, the West Baltimore native said he was not a stand-out student at Mount St. Joseph High School. "I was more interested in working in a supermarket to buy a car and go out with girls," he said.
Doing clerical work for Baltimore Gas & Electric, he worked through college and the University of Baltimore School of Law, and at the time he received his law degree, he was married and had four children ages 5 or younger. (He later divorced and remarried.) He landed a job in 1966 in an Anne Arundel County law firm when a friend who was first in line for it flunked the bar exam.
With partners, he maintained a private practice in Glen Burnie until 1990, when he became a judge.
Mark Lechowicz's late father was one of Loney's law partners, and Lechowicz grew up hanging around the offices. He recalls Loney being "a nice guy" but didn't appreciate how that played out until he became a lawyer.
"You'd see how he'd work every case like it was his only case. I learned what a professional was," he recalled.
Loney served as the Anne Arundel Bar Association president in 1979-1980.
He applied for a vacancy on the District Court because the opportunity arose. "If I didn't do it, somebody else would," he said.
Then-Gov. William Donald Schaefer noted that Loney, who had attended an Orioles fantasy camp, was released by the team to take the appointment.
Loney's parents were in the crowd to see him don robes.
"When I was sworn in as a District Court judge, it was the first time either of them had been in a courtroom," he said.
He moved to the Circuit Court in 1997.
Until he totaled his motorcycle and broke a wrist two years ago, he was one of the Circuit Riders, a group of judges and a court master who ride. He hasn't ridden since, but warm days and newfound time have him longing for the open road and a new motorcycle.
"I haven't replaced it. Yet."
