Founder

Orb's path to the finish line in the second leg of the Triple Crown remains uncrowded. Normandy Invasion, the fourth-place finisher in the Kentucky Derby, dropped from contention for Saturday's 138th running of the Preakness on Sunday. Trainer Chad Brown and owner Rick Porter decided to stick with their original plan and point the horse toward prestigous races for 3-year-olds later in the summer. That leaves Orb, the colt co-owned by Baltimore County resident Stuart Janney III and Ogden Mills "Dinny" Pipps' stable, with only seven confirmed challengers at this point.

Albert Hall, a professional opera singer and choirmaster who began his singing career during his student days at City College, died May 13 from colon cancer at Gilchrist Hospice Care in Towson. The Towson resident was 89. The son of a plumber and a homemaker, Albert Hall was born in Baltimore and raised on Rose Street. It was while he was attending City College in the late 1930s that he came to the attention of Blanche F. Bowlsbey, the legendary music teacher whom her students fondly called "Mrs.

The Daily Record has named AscendOne Corp. founder and Ellicott City resident Bernie Dancel one of its 2011 Innovators, an award created to recognize businesses and individuals who have had a positive effect and tremendous impact in Maryland. The Daily Record, a Baltimore-based business publication, will honor the 2011 Innovators at a dinner Oct. 26, at which time the 2011 Innovator of the Year will be announced. Dancel is one of 24 finalists. The Innovator of the Year recognition notes Ascend One's experiment in telecommuting that has resulted in nearly half of the company's employees working from home.

As the founder of KIPP Baltimore, which operates two high-performing public charter schools in the city, I am heartened and encouraged by our progress over the past six years under schools CEO Andrés Alonso. As I move to a new role as executive director of MarylandCAN - the Maryland Campaign for Achievement Now - I am hopeful that many of the policies and approaches that have driven this progress will be replicated in other Maryland school systems. But the work in Baltimore is far from over.

Many parents have read, liked and tweeted Glennon Doyle Melton's popular essay " Don't Carpe Diem " about bucking traditional advice to enjoy every second with her kids. ("This CARPE DIEM message makes me paranoid and panicky. Especially during this phase of my life - while I'm raising young kids. Being told, in a million different ways to CARPE DIEM makes me worry that if I'm not in a constant state of intense gratitude and ecstasy, I'm doing something wrong. ") The founder of momastery.com followed up that viral success with a book called "Carry On, Warrior" that describes overcoming her bulemia and drug and alcohol abuse to become the mother she is today -- imperfect, but who isn't?

Vinnie Quayle, who founded St. Ambrose Housing Aid Center in Baltimore 43 years ago, said Monday that he plans to retire from the nonprofit in January. St. Ambrose provides housing services ranging from counseling new buyers to renovating foreclosures to help stabilize neighborhoods. The group says it has helped more than 100,000 families since its 1968 founding. Quayle, president and executive director of St. Ambrose, said the nonprofit has hired a consultant to help find his replacement.

Kenneth C. Hobart, former creative director of the Baltimore-based Becker Group and co-founder of a now-defunct greeting card company, died of AIDS Tuesday at his North Baltimore home. He was 48. Until leaving the Becker Group two years ago because of failing health, Mr. Hobart was creative director of the company that is one of the world's largest designers of holiday decor for shopping malls, casinos, corporate headquarters and cruise ships. "Kenny was like a million-watt light bulb," said Gordon Becker, CEO and founder of the 40-year- old design firm.

Crofton technology company Force 3 said Monday that founder and CEO Rocky Cintron is stepping down after two decades and will be replaced by the company's chief operating officer. Les Trachtman, the company's new CEO, has served as COO since joining Force 3 in 2008. Cintron, who has run Force 3 since founding it in 1992, will become chairman of the board. The company provides services in federal security, communications and medical imaging to federal agencies and private firms.

Human Genome Sciences Inc. hired a longtime veteran of Abbott Laboratories Inc. as its new chief executive officer yesterday, the second Maryland biotechnology firm in a week to reach outside the company for new leadership. Rockville-based Human Genome Sciences said its founder, William A. Haseltine, who retired last month, would be succeeded as CEO by H. Thomas Watkins. Watkins, 51, joins Human Genome after having spent most of the past two decades with pharmaceutical giant Abbott Labs and its affiliates.

Robert A. Brooks, 69, a Midwestern telecommunications entrepreneur who started several high-tech companies, died Tuesday in St. Louis of complications after surgery. Mr. Brooks was founder or co-founder of five companies, including Cencom Cable Associates and Brooks Fiber Properties, two companies that he sold in the 1990s. Cencom was a predecessor to cable television giant Charter Communications Inc., now owned by Microsoft Corp. co-founder Paul Allen.

Unimpressed with the elementary school in her Baltimore neighborhood, Bobbi Macdonald set out to create her own. She founded the City Neighborhoods Foundation in 2003, the year her oldest daughter started kindergarten and the state of Maryland began allowing charter schools. Ten years later, the nonprofit is running three schools: City Neighbors Charter School, City Neighbors Hamilton and City Neighbors High School. All are known for student engagement and attendance rates that top 90 percent.

Dr. Howard H. Patt, a former Baltimore surgeon and longtime Mount Washington resident, died April 25 at Sunrise of Santa Monica, a senior living community in California, of complications from a fall. He was 95. "Howard was always a very calm, relaxed and a conscientious surgeon," said Dr. Morton "Morty" Ellin, a retired Baltimore internist, and a friend and colleague of nearly 60 years. "He really felt honored to be a physician and appreciated being one. It just wasn't about making money," he said.

A Northeast Baltimore community leader said Wednesday he plans to step down from the city's Board of Elections to run for a state delegate seat. Cory McCray, 30, who lives in Overlea, said he plans to run for the 45th District legislative seat formerly held by Del. Hattie Harrison. In February, Nina R. Harper, 60, was sworn in to succeed Harrison, a Democrat who died Jan. 28 at 84 after nearly 40 years in office. Harper, the executive director of the Oliver Economic Development Corp., was chosen as Harrison's replacement by Baltimore's Democratic State Central Committee and was automatically appointed by Gov. Martin O'Malley under the state Constitution.

Don Backe never won the America's Cup or any other world-class sailing event, but he probably had more of an impact on the sport around the Chesapeake Bay than any champion. A segment of the local sailing community - the physically and emotionally disabled as well as those who couldn't afford to sail - are deeply indebted to Backe, who helped found Chesapeake Region Accessible Boating (CRAB) in 1991, four years after a car accident left him a paraplegic. While mourning his death on April 12 at age 77 after a prolonged illness, those who knew Backe are also celebrating his life - particularly the last 22 years of it. A memorial service is being planned for June in Annapolis, where Backe's nonprofit was based.

Leon Samuel Idas, who owned a commercial used clothing business and fought the German occupation of his native Greece during World War II, died of a cerebral ailment April 12 at his home in Lauderhill, Fla. He was 87 years old and formerly lived in Bolton Hill. Born in Athens, Greece, he was the son of Samuel and Miriam Ioudas, who also used the name Gabrielides. His father was a textile merchant. "My father's early life was interrupted by the invasion of his beloved homeland, by the Germans during World War II," said his son, Samuel Idas of Fort Lauderdale, Fla. "At 16, Leon fled the Nazi-fortified city of Athens with forged documents and instructions from underground resistance leaders.

Eight years ago, Barry Manilow was shocked to hear that a friend's daughter was futilely searching for a saxophone. The student wanted to try something new, but her school didn't have the instrument. Manilow, the veteran singer and composer with more than 80 million records sold worldwide, was dumbfounded. But after surveying the country's school-funding issues as a whole, Manilow soon realized his friend's daughter shared the same problem with kids across the country. The issue resonated with him. "I went to a dump of a high school in Brooklyn, [N.Y.]

Back in business today* with a fresh inquiry from a reader: When the replica of HMS Bounty went down in the storm yesterday, did it flounder and sink or founder and sink ? It did the latter. To flounder is to struggle, as if to regain footing, or to move slowly and clumsily, as through mud or water. To founder is to fill with water and sink. Or, with a horse, to go lame, or, with livestock, to get sick from overeating. Founder is the less common word; we are struggling clumsily a lot more frequently than we are sinking.

1710: Westminster founder born The founder of Westminster, William Winchester, was born in London on Dec. 22, 1710. Winchester came to America in 1729. He began purchasing tracts, which would eventually become Westminster, in 1754. Winchester surveyed the land into lots in 1764. The town was originally called Winchester in honor of its founder but was changed to Westminster by the Maryland General Assembly to avoid confusion with other towns of the same name - most notably, Winchester, Va. Winchester died Sept.

Compensation for First Mariner Bancorp's top executive reached $495,362 last year, about double from a year ago thanks to a bonus, according to a company filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. Mark A. Keidel, president, chief operating officer and interim CEO of the Baltimore-based bank holding company, earned a base salary of $235,000, a bonus of $251,340 and other compensation of $9,022 in 2012, according to regulatory filings. His total compensation the year before was $244,436.

Many parents have read, liked and tweeted Glennon Doyle Melton's popular essay " Don't Carpe Diem " about bucking traditional advice to enjoy every second with her kids. ("This CARPE DIEM message makes me paranoid and panicky. Especially during this phase of my life - while I'm raising young kids. Being told, in a million different ways to CARPE DIEM makes me worry that if I'm not in a constant state of intense gratitude and ecstasy, I'm doing something wrong. ") The founder of momastery.com followed up that viral success with a book called "Carry On, Warrior" that describes overcoming her bulemia and drug and alcohol abuse to become the mother she is today -- imperfect, but who isn't?