Koppers

Lawrence T. Bailey, a former Koppers Co. manager and volunteer, died of pancreatic cancer Monday at Coastal Hospice in Salisbury. He was 78. Mr. Bailey was born in Baltimore and raised in Hampden. After graduating from City College in 1945, he enlisted in the Army and served in the Signal Corps during the occupation of Germany. He earned a bachelor's degree in economics in 1951 from what is now McDaniel College. He began his career that year with Koppers Co. in Baltimore and later became a manager in the company's industrial relations department.

James Hopkins Berger, a retired purchasing agent who in his youth earned a Carnegie Hero Award for saving the lives of two family members during a 1958 Roland Park house fire, died Dec. 15 of prostate cancer at St. Joseph Medical Center. The Mays Chapel resident was 71. The son of a career Army officer and an educator, Mr. Berger was born in Aberdeen and moved to Roland Avenue with his family and later to Guilford. "He survived polio as a child and his determination to help overcome a paralyzed left side helped him achieve a full recovery," said his wife of 46 years, the former Ann Turner Carroll.

R. Kenneth Lyons, a retired Koppers Co. metallurgist and Eastern Shore outdoorsman, died Thursday of complications from pulmonary fibrosis at his home in the Springlake section of Timonium. He was 77. He supervised the casting of large industrial parts - including gears and bearing housings - for nearly 25 years at the Southwest Baltimore foundry, at Scott Street and Washington Boulevard. "Every suit he owned had burn holes in it from molten steel particles," said his son, R. Kenneth Lyons Jr. of Easton.

Lewis H. Battee, a retired laboratory manager and avid crabber, died June 14 of pneumonia at Mercy Hospital in Oklahoma City. The former Linthicum Heights resident was 95. Born one of nine in Baltimore and raised near Patterson Park, Mr. Battee was the son of a city police officer and a homemaker. He dropped out of city public schools when he was 15 to help support his family. He went to work at the Koppers Co. and rose through the ranks. At the time of his 1977 retirement, he was head of Koppers' metrology laboratory.

Albert G. Ringgold Sr., a retired Koppers Co. foreman, died of cancer Thursday at his Fallston home. He was 79. He worked for 49 years at the Koppers plant in Glen Arm, retiring in 1989 from what then was United Container Machinery. Born in Sunnybrook, Baltimore County, and raised in Glencoe, he attended Sparks School. He served in the Army during World War II and was stationed in northern France. Mr. Ringgold's wife of 47 years, Marguerite Carolyn Levere, a Baltimore teacher's aide, died in 1997.

In a setback for urban renewal in the city, developers have pulled out of a multimillion-dollar project to build a middle-class residential community on one of the last large open parcels in Baltimore -- the ill-fated Koppers site, an abandoned heath in Pigtown.The developers -- Ryland Group Inc. and Otis Warren-- had planned an $11.3 million community of 113 homes, each expected to sell for about $100,000 and provide a much needed boost for economically struggling Southwest Baltimore.But the vacant site was filled with large slabs and pilings of subterranean concrete.

Services for George J. Pletka Sr., who retired in 1968 after 30 years as a carpenter for the Koppers Co., will be held at 1 p.m. today at the Holloway Funeral Home in Salisbury.Mr. Pletka, 87, lived on Griffis Avenue in Baltimore. He died Saturday of pneumonia at Peninsula General Hospital in Salisbury after becoming ill while visiting a son.Before joining Koppers, he was a Baltimore firefighter for 16 years. Born in in Baltimore, he served in the Navy in the 1920s. He was a member of St. Jerome's Roman Catholic Church in Baltimore.

George J. Pletka Sr., who retired in 1968 after 30 years as a carpenter for the Koppers Co., died Saturday of pneumonia at Peninsula General Hospital in Salisbury after becoming ill while visiting a son. He was 87 and lived on Griffis Avenue in Baltimore.Services for Mr. Pletka were being held today at the Holloway funeral establishment in Salisbury.Before joining Koppers, he was a Baltimore firefighter for 16 years. He was born in Baltimore and served in the Navy in the 1920s. He was a member of St. Jerome's Roman Catholic Church in Baltimore.

The time of a memorial service for Harry B. Cummings, retired vice president and general manager of the Metal Products Division of the Koppers Co., has been changed from noon to 1 p.m. tomorrow at St. John's Episcopal Church, 3738 Butler Road, Glyndon.Mr. Cummings, who was 85, died April 13 at his home in Boca Grande, Fla.

Services took place for Arnold resident Vernon Schenck Fortna Saturday at Barranco and Sons Severna Park Funeral Home.Mr. Fortna, 78,died of heart failure Wednesday at Anne Arundel Medical Center.Born in Baltimore, he lived there and in Arnold for most of his life.He was employed as a patternmaker for mold casting at Martin Aircraft in Middle River and later worked for Koppers Co. He retired 17 years ago.Mr. Fortna was a member of the Elkridge Masonic Lodge.His other interests included fishing, painting, drawing, woodcarving and repair work.

Lewis H. Battee, a retired laboratory manager and avid crabber, died June 14 of pneumonia at Mercy Hospital in Oklahoma City. The former Linthicum Heights resident was 95. Born one of nine in Baltimore and raised near Patterson Park, Mr. Battee was the son of a city police officer and a homemaker. He dropped out of city public schools when he was 15 to help support his family. He went to work at the Koppers Co. and rose through the ranks. At the time of his 1977 retirement, he was head of Koppers' metrology laboratory.

Bedford Groves, a retired Washington College administrator who earned two Purple Hearts in the infantry during World War II, died of heart disease March 15 at Chester River Manor. He was 90 and lived in Chestertown. He was born on a farm at Turners Creek near Kennedyville on the Eastern Shore. His father died when he was 14. To help support his six sisters and mother, he worked on a neighbor's farm in the early morning and hitchhiked to Chestertown High School, where he graduated in 1937.

John William Student Jr., a former machinist foreman for Koppers Co. who started a Boy Scout troop in the 1950s at the Maryland School for the Blind to show his son he could do the same things as people who have sight, died Thursday at Broadmead Retirement Community. He was 91 and had suffered from congestive heart failure. Mr. Student also co-founded a PTA chapter at the school for the blind in Baltimore. He had several interests, many of which entailed helping others, and worked as a volunteer for Meals on Wheels for 18 years, delivering food to the elderly and disabled, according to his son, John W. Student III of Nottingham.

Robert A. Barrett, senior vice president of PerkinElmer Inc., died of pneumonia March 11 at a hospital in Denver. He was 62 and lived in Crofton. He was on a skiing vacation when he fell ill and died, family members said. Mr. Barrett was born in Baltimore and raised in Federal Hill. After graduating from Southern High School in 1961, he joined the Coast Guard and worked as an electrician at its Curtis Bay shipyard. While working at the Koppers Co. in Baltimore, he earned a bachelor's degree in industrial engineering from the Johns Hopkins University in 1975.

Lawrence T. Bailey, a former Koppers Co. manager and volunteer, died of pancreatic cancer Monday at Coastal Hospice in Salisbury. He was 78. Mr. Bailey was born in Baltimore and raised in Hampden. After graduating from City College in 1945, he enlisted in the Army and served in the Signal Corps during the occupation of Germany. He earned a bachelor's degree in economics in 1951 from what is now McDaniel College. He began his career that year with Koppers Co. in Baltimore and later became a manager in the company's industrial relations department.

CAMDEN CROSSING, a community of 150 townhouses about to rise near the B&O Railroad Museum, is believed to be the first residential rebirth of a once-contaminated industrial site in Maryland. But it's not being developed under the state's brownfields program because the builder found it simpler, faster and less expensive to get the long-delayed 9-acre development off the ground without it. Gov. Robert L. Ehrlich Jr. has a bill on his desk that would make the voluntary brownfields program less cumbersome - and he ought to sign it so other projects in this enormously promising area can get under way more quickly.

Lewis H. Battee, a retired laboratory manager and avid crabber, died June 14 of pneumonia at Mercy Hospital in Oklahoma City. The former Linthicum Heights resident was 95. Born one of nine in Baltimore and raised near Patterson Park, Mr. Battee was the son of a city police officer and a homemaker. He dropped out of city public schools when he was 15 to help support his family. He went to work at the Koppers Co. and rose through the ranks. At the time of his 1977 retirement, he was head of Koppers' metrology laboratory.

Lewis H. Battee, a retired laboratory manager and avid crabber, died June 14 of pneumonia at Mercy Hospital in Oklahoma City. The former Linthicum Heights resident was 95. Born one of nine in Baltimore and raised near Patterson Park, Mr. Battee was the son of a city police officer and a homemaker. He dropped out of city public schools when he was 15 to help support his family. He went to work at the Koppers Co. and rose through the ranks. At the time of his 1977 retirement, he was head of Koppers' metrology laboratory.

Robert F. Gordon, a retired sales manager, died Tuesday of pneumonia at Sand Lake Hospital in Orlando, Fla. The former Severna Park resident was 69. He retired about 10 years ago from Koppers Co. in Southwest Baltimore, where he was a sales manager and sold piston rings to the aerospace industry. He moved to Bluffton, S.C., last year. Born in Pittsburgh, Pa., he earned an electrical engineering degree from the University of Pittsburgh. He served in the Army and achieved the rank of first lieutenant.