Insurance Executive

Natalie Kernan "Nat" Brooks, a retired insurance executive who enjoyed spending time at a second home in Rehoboth Beach, Del., died Sunday of colorectal cancer at her home in Bowie. She was 58. Ms. Brooks was born in Pasadena, Calif., and moved with her family to Catonsville in 1955. After the death of her father in 1960, she move with her mother and siblings to a home on Longwood Road in Roland Park. She was a 1970 graduate of Garrison Forest School and earned a bachelor's degree in anthropology from American University in Washington in 1974.

- Christopher Gearhart does not know where he would be without fly fishing. Growing up in this Frederick County town, Gearhart's father left the family when he was a small child. Donald Lewis, the town's mayor, took Gearhart and a few other kids to an annual event on the grounds of Camp Airy run by a group of men who taught boys like Gearhart how to fly fish. "Honestly, my father left us and these gentlemen kept me out of trouble," Gearhart recalled Saturday. "They knew I liked to fish, and they kept me doing it. " Now 40 years old and an insurance executive who lives in nearby Waynesboro, Pa., Gearhart has stayed involved in the organization that taught him so much.

Joseph Klein Jr., a Baltimore insurance executive and philanthropist who believed in leading by example, died Sunday of pulmonary fibrosis at his Pikesville home. He was 80. The son of a co-founder of Levinson & Klein Inc., an East Baltimore furniture store, and a homemaker, Mr. Klein was born in Baltimore and raised in the Dumbarton neighborhood of Northwest Baltimore. Mr. Klein graduated in 1949 from Friends School, and in 1953 from the Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania.

Joseph Klein Jr., a Baltimore insurance executive and philanthropist who believed in leading by example, died Sunday of pulmonary fibrosis at his Pikesville home. He was 80. The son of a co-founder of Levinson & Klein Inc., an East Baltimore furniture store, and a homemaker, Mr. Klein was born in Baltimore and raised in the Dumbarton neighborhood of Northwest Baltimore. Mr. Klein graduated in 1949 from Friends School, and in 1953 from the Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania.

John Fox Graham, a retired insurance executive and avid bay sailor, died Sunday from Parkinson's disease at Stella Maris Hospice in Timonium. He was 84. Mr. Graham was born in Springfield, Mass., and moved with his family in 1931 to the Pinehurst/Cedarcroft neighborhood. After graduating from Loyola High School in 1944, he enlisted in the Navy and served in naval air intelliegence at the end of World War II. He was recalled to active duty during the Korean conflict and served aboard the carrier USS Princeton until being discharged in 1953.

Albert Ernest Lietzau III, an insurance executive and former board chair of the Lutheran High School Association, died of cancer Oct. 24 at Johns Hopkins Hospital. He was 74 and lived in Original Northwood. Born in Baltimore and raised in Eastwood, he attended Immanuel Lutheran School and was a 1954 graduate of Dundalk High School, where he was class valedictorian and sang in its operettas. He served in the Army National Guard and was called into active duty during the 1963 Cambridge riot.

Raymond Leonard Evans Jr., a retired Allstate Insurance account executive, died of complications from a cerebral hemorrhage Dec. 23 at Anne Arundel Medical Center. The Edgewater resident was 81. Born in Baltimore and raised on Kildaire Drive in Hamilton and Chesapeake Avenue in Towson, he was a 1948 City College graduate and earned a psychology degree from Washington College in 1952. He met his future wife, Elizabeth-Lee Radcliffe, while at a function at Towson Presbyterian Church.

William John Salladin II, a former insurance executive who headed All Risks Ltd. for more than three decades, died Friday of prostate cancer at Gilchrist Hospice Care. He was 67. Mr. Salladin, the son of an insurance executive and a homemaker, was born in Proctor, Vt. The family moved to Rumson, N.J., and then to Towson in 1957. After graduating from Towson High School in 1961, Mr. Salladin attended the University of Maryland, College Park. An animal lover, Mr. Salladin was 14 when he began working for a Towson veterinarian and had planned on studying to become a veterinarian.

Charles G. Parry, a retired insurance executive and lifelong sailor who passed along his enthusiasm and knowledge of sailing to his youthful students, died Friday of bladder cancer at his Chestertown home. He was 74. Mr. Parry, the son of a Philadelphia lumber company executive and a homemaker, was born and raised in Camden, N.J. He was a lifelong Quaker and a direct descendant of James Logan, who was William Penn's secretary. He was raised in Moorestown, N.J., where he graduated in 1953 from Moorestown High School.

Robert A. Roesner, a former Baltimore County public school educator and coach who went on to become a replacement Major League Baseball umpire during two strikes in 1978 and 1979 strike, died Monday of heart failure at Imperial Gardens nursing home in Naples, Fla. The longtime Joppatowne resident was 85. Mr. Roesner made his major league umpiring debut at Memorial Stadium on Aug. 25, 1978, before a crowd of 10,538 who had gathered to watch...

Elizabeth S. Cissel, whose career as a private school educator spanned more than 30 years, died Tuesday at a Belfast, Maine, nursing home from complications of a fall. The former longtime Roland Park resident was 90. The daughter of an insurance executive and a homemaker, the former Elizabeth Short was born in Salisbury and raised in Ednor Gardens. She was a 1939 graduate of Notre Dame Preparatory School and Colby-Sawyer College in New London, N.H., which was then a two-year college.

Emil A. "Buzzy" Budnitz Jr., a three-time All-American Blue Jays attackman during the early 1950s who was known as the "Buzz Bomb of Hopkins lacrosse," died Tuesday of bone cancer at his home in the Lake Falls Village neighborhood of Baltimore County. He was 79. "Buzzy was the best player at City, the best player at Hopkins, and the best player at Mount Washington, when it was the best team in the country," said former Hopkins teammate Bill Tanton, who later was the longtime sports editor of The Evening Sun. "Everyone experienced his greatness.

John Stewart Morton Jr., a retired real estate and insurance executive, died Aug. 3 of kidney failure at the Blakehurst retirement community in Towson. The former Owings Mills resident was 92. The son of a real estate broker and a homemaker, Mr. Morton was born in Baltimore and raised on Greenway in Guilford. He was descended from William Gambrill, who landed in Southern Maryland in 1660 and for whom the town of Gambrills in Anne Arundel County is named, and John Morton, who fought as a captain with the 4th Virginia Regiment during the Revolutionary War. Mr. Morton was a 1938 graduate of Episcopal High School in Alexandria, Va., and in 1940, enlisted with Battery D, 110th Field Artillery of the 29th Division.

L. Patrick Deering, a retired accountant and insurance executive who worked behind the scenes on behalf of cultural, educational and philanthropic causes, died of leukemia Sunday at his Ruxton home. He was 88. Born on a cattle and dairy farm in County Carlow, Ireland, he came to the U.S. as a student at Fordham Preparatory School in New York City. He became an American citizen and served in the Army Air Forces, working in intelligence in England and France during World War II. He earned a degree at the Columbia University Business School.