Arthur Eugene "Gene" Kohlhepp Jr., a retired salesman who earlier had owned and operated a vending machine company, died Sept. 3 of complications from Alzheimer's disease at The Pines Genesis Elder Care in Easton.
The former longtime Monkton resident was 81.
Born in Baltimore and raised in Homeland, Mr. Kohlhepp was a graduate of Boys' Latin School. He served in the Army near the end of World War II and was discharged in 1947.
He worked with his father in sales at William Deitches & Co., a Baltimore tobacco distributorship, before establishing Colt Cigarette Vending in the 1960s.
After selling the business to Dixie Vending, he joined Chesapeake Fiberboard, where he worked in sales until retiring in 1994.
An avid outdoorsman, he enjoyed waterfowl hunting, fishing and powerboating on the Eastern Shore.
A 32nd-degree Mason, he was a member of the Ancient and Accepted Scottish Rite, Boumi Temple, Concordia Lodge No. 13 A.F. & A.M., Maryland Nobles of the Mystic Shrine for North America.
He had been a member of the Baltimore Country Club, Baltimore Yacht Club and the Cambridge Yacht Club.
Services are private.
Surviving are his wife of 37 years, the former Helen DiTullio of Easton; a son, A. E. "Chipper" Kohlhepp III of New Freedom, Pa.; two daughters, Carleton Webb "Candy" Fabric of Glen Rock, Pa., and Linda Blair Gill of Puerto Vallarta, Mexico; a sister, Corrine Long of Roland Park; three grandchildren; and two great-grandchildren. An earlier marriage ended in divorce.
