By Frederick N. Rasmussen|October 09, 2009
Robert W. Park Jr., a retired sales executive and longtime volunteer firefighter, died Sunday of Alzheimer's disease at Gilchrist Hospice Care. The Joppa resident was 72.
Mr. Park, the son of a naval officer and a homemaker, was born and raised in Quantico, Va. He was a 1954 graduate of Gar-Field High School and earned a bachelor's degree in business in 1958 from the University of Richmond.
He retired in 2001 from Cellular One, where he had been in sales for a decade. Before that, Mr. Park held executive sales positions with Motorola and Victor Business Products, which sold cash registers and calculators.
For more than 30 years, Mr. Park was an active member, board member and former president of the Joppa-Magnolia Volunteer Fire Co.
In 1999, Mr. Park was elected to the Harford-Cecil County Volunteer Firemen's Association Hall of Fame.
Mr. Park, who had suffered from kidney disease since 1992, underwent a transplant in 1996.
"The transplant gave him 13 years of good quality of life," said his wife of 30 years, the former Barbara Younkin Jump.
Mr. Park enjoyed exploring the rivers and streams of the Eastern Shore aboard his powerboat.
He was an avid collector of antique clocks and hand-carved decoys.
Services will be held at 10 a.m. today at Trinity Lutheran Church, 1100 Philadelphia Road, Joppa.
Also surviving are six daughters, Jennifer Duffy of Glen Rock, Pa., Elizabeth Anderson of Towson, Heather Hendricksen of Owings Mills, Wendy Smith of Ellicott City, Rebecca Stevenson of New Freedom, Pa., and Jessica Park of Abingdon; and 11 grandchildren. An earlier marriage ended in divorce.
