Harry And Jeanette

Catholics seeking changes in church will hold seminarMaryland Roman Catholics seeking changes in their church and more open discussion of problems they say are not being addressed by leaders of the Archdiocese of Baltimore have planned the second in a series of public programs for Oct. 9.The Rev. Michael H. Crosby, a Capuchin Franciscan priest, theologian and author from Milwaukee, will address the seminar and lead the discussion from 9 a.m. to 1 p.m. at...

An article about the Harry and Jeanette Weinberg Foundation in Sunday's editions of The Sun said that in life Harry Weinberg was "decried as a slumlord" whose wealth was built at the expense of the poor. In fact, Mr. Weinberg owned relative ly little residential real estate. His holdings were mostly in commercial real estate, much of it in downtown Baltimore and in deteriorated condition.The sun regrets the errors.The angels of mercy are again on the move today, traveling across town in a boxy old Lincoln Continental on their way to East Baltimore and the gleaming new headquarters of Meals-on-Wheels of Central Maryland.

Levindale Hebrew Geriatric Center and Hospital dedicated a new building yesterday to Harry Weinberg, a reclusive Baltimore real estate tycoon who died in November 1990 leaving $743 million in a charitable foundation.The Harry and Jeanette Weinberg Foundation's gift of $1.5 million will retire the debt of the new $15 million building off Northern Parkway. The building houses a community room, a room for spiritual reflection and a lobby.The foundation, criticized by charitable organizations for its unconventional approach to giving, is Baltimore's largest philanthropy.

A photo caption in yesterday's MBW incorrectly identified the old Trailways bus station as the Greyhound station.The Sun regrets the errors.December may be approaching, but the feeling around Baltimore's traditional retail district isn't the spirit of Christmas past or Christmas present. It's the spirit of Harry Weinberg.You can see it in the old Stewart's department store, a former hub of shopping activity that now sits largely vacant at the corner of Howard and Lexington streets. And in the handsome but empty loft buildings on two corners of Howard and Saratoga streets.

The door to Harry Weinberg's Baltimore real estate empire is sandwiched between the Hair Styling Junction and the 40 West Auto Supply in a little shopping center on Baltimore National Pike.Up stairs covered with worn red linoleum and past dusty file cabinets full of bank statements from the now defunct Brager-Gutman department store is the office, decorated with mismatched furniture, from which Weinberg's multimillion-dollar Baltimore real estate holdings were managed.Weinberg died Nov. 4 of cancer, leaving a $900 million charitable trust -- the Harry and Jeanette Weinberg Foundation -- to give away a projected $45 million each year to the poor.

Before his death Sunday, Harry Weinberg had the reputation as Baltimore's biggest absentee landlord -- a man whose refusal to sell or upgrade his downtown properties stymied efforts to revitalize Howard Street. But now that control of his vast real estate empire has passed to a foundation set up in his name, the city's efforts to revive the moribund retail district may find a more sympathetic ear.Although the five-member board of trustees of the Harry and Jeanette Weinberg Foundation have not yet indicated what plans they may have for the dozens of buildings or lots in Mr. Weinberg's Baltimore real estate portfolio, at least one longtime colleague of Mr. Weinberg's said he believes the trustees will be more likely to cooperate with the city.