Purchasing Agent

Richard Blundon Watts, a retired Martin Marietta purchasing agent, died Friday of cancer at Greater Baltimore Medical Center. He was 62 and lived in Riderwood.An electronics purchasing agent, he joined Martin Marietta in 1980 and retired in 1992. He had formerly worked at AAI Corp. in Cockeysville.Born in Baltimore, he was a graduate of the Calvert School in North Baltimore and St. Andrew's School in Middletown, Del. He attended Drexel University and the Johns Hopkins University.He enjoyed Dixieland jazz and working with computers and electronics.

LeRoy Ellwood Medford, a retired purchasing agent for the David Taylor Research Center in Annapolis, died Thursday of pancreatic cancer at his home in Glen Burnie. He was 73.A lifelong resident of Ferndale and Glen Burnie, Mr. Medford sang at Baltimore's Hippodrome Theatre when he was 4 years old. He graduated from Glen Burnie High School in 1941.Mr. Medford served in the Army Air Forces during World War II, then became a civilian employee of the Navy -- beginning a career that spanned four decades as purchasing agent for the research center.

A Maryland-based arm of the Saudi health ministry that buy supplies for that country's royal hospital may not claim sovereign immunity in fighting a sex discrimination complaint, an administrative law judge has ruled.Royspec Purchasing Services, an agency of the Saudi government based near Baltimore-Washington International Airport, argued in a March hearing that it was immune from the complaint brought by the Maryland Human Relations Commission.A former Royspec purchasing agent, Marian Heymann of Pasadena, charged in 1987 that sex bias by her employer forced her to quit a $40,000-a-year job after six years with the agency.

A Maryland-based arm of the Saudi health ministry that buy supplies for that country's royal hospital may not claim sovereign immunity in fighting a sex discrimination complaint, an administrative law judge has ruled.Royspec Purchasing Services, an agency of the Saudi government based near Baltimore- Washington International Airport, argued in a March hearing that it was immune from the complaint brought by the Maryland Human Relations Commission.A former Royspec purchasing agent, Marian Heymann of Pasadena, charged in 1987 that sex bias by her employer forced her to quit a $40,000-a-year job after six years with the agency.

A Maryland-based arm of the Saudi health ministry that buys supplies for that country's royal hospital may not claim sovereign immunity in fighting a sex discrimination complaint, an administrative law judge has ruled.Royspec Purchasing Services, an agency of the Saudi government based near Baltimore-Washington International Airport, argued in a March hearing that it was immune from the complaint brought by the Maryland Human Relations Commission.A former Royspec purchasing agent, Marian Heymann of Pasadena, charged in 1987 that sex bias by her employer forced her to quit a $40,000-a-year job after six years with the agency.

Marian Heymann says sex discrimination by her employer forced her to quit her $40,000-a-year job five years ago.So does the Maryland Human Relations Commission.But her employer, an arm of the Saudi Ministry of Health, says no discrimination ever took place and that even if it did, the company wasn't -- and isn't -- bound by the state's anti-discrimination laws.Administrative Law Judge Sondra Mackel is to hear preliminary arguments in the civil rights case tomorrow morning. At stake, lawyers for both sides say, is whether Maryland's employment laws apply to companies run by foreign governments.

A former Bata Shoe Co. purchasing agent pleaded guilty today to a federal felony count of soliciting and accepting kickbacks from suppliers on a Defense Department boot contract.Bell Container Corp., of Newark, N.J., and Kurt Faulhammer, 49, owner and president of K&R Fabrics, in Wilbraham, Mass., also pleaded guilty today to felony charges of paying kickbacks to the purchasing agent, Alvin Grieninger, 58, of Havre de Grace, in return for orders for boxes and fleece that Bata used to make and ship cold-weather boots to the military.

A former Bata Shoe Co. purchasing agent was sentenced Thursday in U.S. District Court in Baltimore to five months confinement for his role in a kickback scheme related to a $4.8 million military contract.Alvin Grieninger, 58, of Havre de Grace, also was ordered to pay a $10,000 fine and $3,700 in restitution by Judge Marvin J. Garbis.The sentence includes one month in prison, two months in a work-release community center and two months in home confinement. Grieninger also must complete two years of supervised probation.

A former purchasing agent for the Bata Shoe Co. was sentenced yesterday in federal court to a month in prison, two months in a community facility and two months in home confinement for soliciting kickbacks on government contracts for military boots.Alvin Grieninger, 58, of Havre de Grace pleaded guilty Jan. 10 to taking kickbacks totaling $37,652.54 between 1985 and 1989 to influence his choice of subcontractors for materials while he was purchasing agent for the Belcamp contractor.As part of the sentence, U.S. District Judge Marvin J. Garbis fined Mr. Grieninger $10,000 and ordered him to pay the $3,685.

Services for Raymond A. Davis, a retired purchasing agent, will be held at 10 a.m. tomorrow at the Leonard J. Ruck Funeral Home Inc., 5305 Harford Road.Mr. Davis, a longtime resident of Gardenville in Northeast Baltimore, died Friday at Franklin Square Hospital after a lengthy illness. He was 63.Born in Baltimore, he attended St. Michael's Catholic School in Overlea and served with the U.S. Army during World War II.He was a salesman for 25 years for the wholesale hardware dealership of William H. Cole and Sons in Baltimore.

Donald Russel Atwood, a retired hospital purchasing agent and former merchant marine officer, died of multiple organ failure Wednesday at the Blakehurst retirement community in Towson. He was 98. Mr. Atwood was born in Baltimore and raised near Druid Hill Park. He was a City College graduate. "During the Depression, he held many jobs, including being a Pinkerton detective," said his son, Theodore D. "Ted" Atwood of Roland Park, energy adviser to the Baltimore Department of Public Works.

Charles Grindel Leight, a retired hospital purchasing agent and consultant, died of complications from a broken hip Nov. 11 at his daughter's home in Millington, Del. The former Rock Hall resident was 83. Mr. Leight was born in Baltimore and raised on Cardenas Avenue. He was a 1941 graduate of City College and, because he had suffered from polio in his youth, was deferred from military service during World War II. He began working at the old Glenn L. Martin Co. plant in Middle River in 1942 as a stock chaser and was later promoted to expeditor and supervisor.

Robert H. Bradley Sr., a World War II veteran who worked four decades as a purchasing agent for a baking company, died of cancer Tuesday at his retirement home in Orange City, Fla. He was 81. Born in Ellicott City, Mr. Bradley graduated from Ellicott City High School in 1940 and went to work for Doughnut Corporation of America. He continued to work for the company, later known as DCA Food Industries, until he retired in 1986 as a Laurel-based purchasing agent. He enlisted in the Army in 1942 and was stationed in North Carolina, Florida and France before being discharged in 1946.

Thomas I. Burbage, a retired steel company purchasing agent, died of heart failure Saturday at St. Joseph Medical Center. The Roland Park resident was 83. Born in Baltimore and raised in Govans, he was a 1938 City College graduate. After working briefly for Baltimore Gas and Electric Co., he joined the Maryland National Guard in 1941. He entered the Army Air Forces and served in India and China, and flew B-25 bombers on numerous missions in World War II. He attained the rank of lieutenant.

Angelo Daniel Colaianni, a retired Amtrak purchasing agent and community activist, died of congestive heart failure Monday at Harbor Hospital. He was 78. Mr. Colaianni was born in Baltimore and raised in the Lake Montebello area. He attended city public schools. He joined the U.S. merchant marine in 1942 and traveled about 70,000 miles by sea during World War II. While on a Murmansk run, his ship was torpedoed, and he spent 13 hours in the water before being rescued. He went to work for the Pennsylvania Railroad in Baltimore in 1948, installing telephones and telegraph equipment.

Donald E. Doeller, a retired purchasing agent, miniature lighthouse collector and watercraft modeler, died of heart failure Saturday at Raleigh Community Hospital in North Carolina. The longtime Guilford resident was 88. Born and raised on Calvert Street in Baltimore, Mr. Doeller was a 1933 graduate of Friends School and attended the University of Maryland. In 1938, he went to work as purchasing agent for Simpson & Doeller Co., a family printing business founded by his grandfather in the 19th century.

John S. Angevine, 83, engineering firm manager John S. Angevine, retired manager of research and development for a Pennsylvania engineering company, died Friday of heart failure at Greater Baltimore Medical Center. He was 83. A Homeland resident since 1990, Mr. Angevine retired in 1983 from the firm of Swindell Dressler in Pittsburgh. Earlier, he had worked 25 years for the Aluminum Company of America in Massena, N.Y. Born in New York City and raised in Dumont, N.J., where he graduated from high school, he earned his bachelor's degree in engineering from Alfred University in 1939.

Lawrence Gerald Kalb, a retired purchasing agent and aviation enthusiast, died Thursday of undetermined causes at Greater Baltimore Medical Center. He was 71 and lived in Bel Air. He retired in 1991 as a University of Maryland Medical Center purchasing agent. He had earlier worked in the same field at the University of Maryland, College Park and at the Bendix Corp. As a young man he was a flight-line mechanic at the Glenn L. Martin Co. Born and raised in Essex, he was a graduate of Calvert Hall College High School.

Richard Blundon Watts, a retired Martin Marietta purchasing agent, died Friday of cancer at Greater Baltimore Medical Center. He was 62 and lived in Riderwood.An electronics purchasing agent, he joined Martin Marietta in 1980 and retired in 1992. He had formerly worked at AAI Corp. in Cockeysville.Born in Baltimore, he was a graduate of the Calvert School in North Baltimore and St. Andrew's School in Middletown, Del. He attended Drexel University and the Johns Hopkins University.He enjoyed Dixieland jazz and working with computers and electronics.

LeRoy Ellwood Medford, a retired purchasing agent for the David Taylor Research Center in Annapolis, died Thursday of pancreatic cancer at his home in Glen Burnie. He was 73.A lifelong resident of Ferndale and Glen Burnie, Mr. Medford sang at Baltimore's Hippodrome Theatre when he was 4 years old. He graduated from Glen Burnie High School in 1941.Mr. Medford served in the Army Air Forces during World War II, then became a civilian employee of the Navy -- beginning a career that spanned four decades as purchasing agent for the research center.