Hammerman

Calling the 1996 shooting outside the Volcano's nightclub "a tragedy for the whole community," a Baltimore Circuit Court judge sentenced gunman Kevin Lamont Richardson to 300 years in prison for killing two college students and wounding four other people.Judge Robert I. H. Hammerman said he had no choice but to impose the maximum sentence for the crimes because of Richardson's disregard for human life when he opened fire on a crowd outside the club in the 1000 block of Greenmount Ave. on Oct. 24, 1996, in an attempt to kill an "enemy" of his.Hammerman told Richardson, 25, that he had brought tragedy to the families of six innocent people, and left his three children to grow up without their father.

On behalf of the Officers, Board of Trustees, Staff and Families of Beth El Congregation, we sorrowfully acknowledge the passing of our esteemed CANTOR EMERITUS, SAUL Z. HAMMERMAN, whose relationship with our synagogue extended for more than 56 years. In his active service as our Hazzan for 45 years, he elevated the quality of our worship with his magnificent voice and profound sense of spirituality. Throughout that time he ministered faithfully as a pastor to our families, whether at times of joy or sadness, adding the uplift and the comfort of the riches of the Jewish Cantorial tradition.

On November 11, 2004, ROBERT I. H. HAMMERMAN; devoted son of the late Herman and Belle G. (nee Greenblatt) Hammerman; beloved brother of Caroline E. Goldsmith; beloved uncle of Heidi Goldsmith, Joy Goldsmith, Sharon (Goldsmith) Hamburger and Fred Goldsmith; beloved great-uncle of David Hamburger, Yael Hamburger and Daniel Goldsmith. Services and interment at Arlington Cemetery-Chizuk Amuno-Congregation, 4300 N. Rogers Avenue, on Sunday, November 14 at 10 A.M. In lieu of flowers, contributions may be made in his memory to The Lancers Walk for the Homeless of Greater Baltimore, P.O. Box 5633 (21210)

At 84, Steve Takos can't volunteer at North Point State Park as often as he used to. But it might not matter much longer. The visitor center that bears his name could be closed soon. Maryland's 49 state parks are in "a state of crisis" because of declining funding and manpower, and require an immediate infusion of both, a new study concludes. The 30-page report, authorized by the General Assembly and paid for by a private advocacy foundation, paints a grim picture of the parks system that stretches from Deep Creek Lake east to Assateague State Park.

On behalf of the Officers, Board of Trustees, Staff and Families of Beth El Congregation, we sorrowfully acknowledge the passing of our esteemed CANTOR EMERITUS, SAUL Z. HAMMERMAN, whose relationship with our synagogue extended for more than 56 years. In his active service as our Hazzan for 45 years, he elevated the quality of our worship with his magnificent voice and profound sense of spirituality. Throughout that time he ministered faithfully as a pastor to our families, whether at times of joy or sadness, adding the uplift and the comfort of the riches of the Jewish Cantorial tradition.

John Buck, a resident of Columbia, was recently hired as director ofmarketing and consulting services for Hammerman Associates Inc., a Columbia-based microcomputer training and consulting firm.Buck will be responsible for developing regional marketing opportunities, particularly with association consultation projects.Prior to his appointment at Hammerman Associates, Buck worked at IOCS, a Boston-based government contractor.NEW REALTORS PRESIDENTWilliam F. Snider of Columbia has been elected 1992 President-elect of the Maryland Association of Realtors Inc.Snider has worked as a real estate consultant, an appraiser and a broker since 1977 when he joined the real estate profession.

In a case that had escaped public notice, the chief judge of Baltimore City Circuit Court has been cleared of a criminal traffic charge in Baltimore County that could have landed him in jail.Robert I. H. Hammerman was found not guilty last month of leaving the scene of a relatively minor personal property damage accident despite testimony from two eyewitnesses and a police officer. John H. Garmer, chief administrative judge for Baltimore County Circuit Court, cleared Hammerman of the charge Sept.

Well, we have senior circuits for swimmers, golfers, tennis players, judges, cyclists, volleyball players, even drum and bugle corps. So why not cantors? That's more or less the thought that occurred last summer to Saul Hammerman, who at 76 is a fairly senior cantor himself. He's cantor emeritus at Beth El Congregation in Park Heights where he served 45 years. He retired in 1997. He still performs the liturgies at weddings and funerals when he's asked and on the High Holy Days. "I enjoy the thrill of singing.

The longest-serving trial judge in Maryland history hangs up his robes today -- and he is not happy about it."I'm not retiring. They're retiring me," says Baltimore Circuit Chief Judge Robert I.H. Hammerman.After 37 years of deciding other people's fates and disputes, Hammerman says this choice is being made for him: He will turn 70 tomorrow, the mandatory retirement age for judges under Maryland law.He sees little sense to being forced out because of his age, especially since he is fit enough to walk up the five flights of stairs to his courtroom two or three times each day, he still needs only four hours of sleep each night, can beat 20-year-old opponents at tennis, and plays an hour of squash five times a week.

Among the many deliberate steps retired Baltimore Circuit Judge Robert I.H. Hammerman took before ending his life a year ago yesterday was to try to make sure his most treasured legacy would survive him. But a year later, the Lancers Club, the legendary 59-year-old leadership club for Baltimore youth that Hammerman founded and nurtured until his death, is no more. Its final gathering took place months ago, a somber evening attended by current and former members and parents. "Ending the Lancers was the appropriate thing to do," said 71-year-old Jerry Sachs, one of the club's founding members.

Among the many deliberate steps retired Baltimore Circuit Judge Robert I.H. Hammerman took before ending his life a year ago yesterday was to try to make sure his most treasured legacy would survive him. But a year later, the Lancers Club, the legendary 59-year-old leadership club for Baltimore youth that Hammerman founded and nurtured until his death, is no more. Its final gathering took place months ago, a somber evening attended by current and former members and parents. "Ending the Lancers was the appropriate thing to do," said 71-year-old Jerry Sachs, one of the club's founding members.

It would be a slick name for a private investigator: Marvin Hammerman, Private Eye. But Marvin Hammerman is actually a Baltimore district attorney who, in the pages of a Washington newspaper, defends the homeless with the help of assistant district attorney - and love interest? - Anna Jackson. Each month, a new case unfolds for the tough softy Hammerman. "He goes to bat for the homeless," says August Mallory. "He's my hero." And what of Hammerman and Jackson? Strictly business? "Something could happen there."

A city police officer who was accused of sleeping on the job is expected to receive $75,000 in back pay from the city, which fired him more than two years ago but later rehired him under court order. Police officials said they found officer Daniel Redd asleep about 11 a.m. Oct. 2, 2001, at the reservoir at Druid Hill Park, where he was supposed to be on anti-terrorist duty. Redd, who joined the force in 1994, was fired in June 2002 over the incident. Redd sued over his termination. In July, Baltimore Circuit Judge Robert I.H. Hammerman ordered him reinstated and reimbursed for lost wages.

On December 6, 2004, IRVIN SPRINGER; beloved husband of Elizabeth Bettye Springer (nee Gottlieb) and the late Beatrice Springer (nee Portnoi); beloved father of Larry Springer, of Berkeley Springs, WV and the late Rona Hankin; devoted father-in-law of Patricia Springer and the late Edwin Hankin; devoted step-father of David (Rita) Hammerman and Adele Hammerman, both of Baltimore; devoted brother of the late William Springer. Also survived by nineteen grandchildren and seventeen great-grandchildren.

THE SPIRITUAL children of Judge Robert I.H. Hammerman gathered in the cold yesterday to bid him farewell, and found he had controlled his dying as meticulously as he controlled his courtroom, or his connection to generations of Baltimore youngsters, or his 76 years of life. On a chilly, sun-dappled morning at the Chizuk Amuno Cemetery three days after a despondent Hammerman shot himself to death, the longest-serving trial jurist in Maryland history was buried beneath a cluster of barren trees, surrounded by several hundred mourners whose lives he touched through the city's courts, and Baltimore City College, and the Lancers Club.

I SAW the judge a few weeks ago, on a chilly October day, on Guilford Avenue in Baltimore, at the exact moment a column of late-morning sunlight slipped through an opening between downtown buildings. We were walking in opposite directions in the block behind City Hall, and the sun caught the shoulder of the judge's coat and his soft, silvery hair. The judge walked north with his head bowed slightly, against a breeze, and he looked up as I approached him and our eyes met in instant recognition as we passed each other.

Herb Kasoff pops into the cantor's office bearing wine for Passover and proclaims: "I was his first bar mitzvah!"Cantor Saul Z. Hammerman doesn't deny it. But he doesn't confirm it either."

The chief judge of Baltimore Circuit Court has criticized a coalition of black judges which lobbied for the election of a rookie colleague to a top post on the Maryland Judicial Conference -- a spot normally held by veteran judges.In a four-page letter sent his colleagues, Chief Judge Robert I.H. Hammerman suggests that three veteran judges in the running for the conference's executive committee withdrew under pressure from the black coalition.On May 16, Judge Andre Maurice Davis -- who last fall became the second black appointed by Gov. William Donald Schaefer to the white-dominated circuit bench -- was unanimously elected to the executive committee of the Judicial Conference.

On November 11, 2004, ROBERT I. H. HAMMERMAN; devoted son of the late Herman and Belle G. (nee Greenblatt) Hammerman; beloved brother of Caroline E. Goldsmith; beloved uncle of Heidi Goldsmith, Joy Goldsmith, Sharon (Goldsmith) Hamburger and Fred Goldsmith; beloved great-uncle of David Hamburger, Yael Hamburger and Daniel Goldsmith. Services and interment at Arlington Cemetery-Chizuk Amuno-Congregation, 4300 N. Rogers Avenue, on Sunday, November 14 at 10 A.M. In lieu of flowers, contributions may be made in his memory to The Lancers Walk for the Homeless of Greater Baltimore, P.O. Box 5633 (21210)

The obituaries say Judge Robert Hammerman had no children, but obits are too literal. He devoted his life to the law, and to Baltimore City College and the Lancers Club, and was father to all three. Now he joins their heavenly alumni. He will find comfort among their spirits, for he never truly let them go. For years, Hammerman ran his old high school's Hall of Fame, and tenderly nurtured it, and zealously guarded its standards. He performed a sweet ritual of remembrance at each year's ceremonies.