Kenneth Earl ‘Ken’ McElroy Jr., environmental engineer who founded a summer camp for Baltimore children, dies

Kenneth Earl "Ken" McElroy Jr., an environmental engineer who founded a summer camp for Baltimore children, died of Alzheimer's disease complications June 23 at his Stadium Place home. He was 85 and formerly lived in Charles Village.

Born in Petersburg, Virginia, he was the son of Kenneth Earl McElroy Sr. and Eileen Baird McElroy. A 1956 graduate of Thomas Jefferson High school, he met his future wife, Dorris Wingfield Smith, there.

They celebrated their 63rd wedding anniversary June 17.

Mr. McElroy earned a degree in civil engineering from University of Virginia, a master's degree from University of North Carolina and another master's degree in finance from the University of Baltimore.

At Virginia, he co-founded the chapter of Sigma Pi fraternity.

He moved to Silver Spring and worked for the Washington Suburban Sanitary District Commission. Later, he joined the U.S. Public Health Service, the Great Lakes Basin Commission and the Maryland Health Department.

He and his wife settled on Guilford Avenue in Charles Village in the 1960s. He was active in grass roots neighborhood projects, including a community credit union based in Waverly. He also supported rent control.

He was an active political supporter of former Baltimore City Council President Mary Pat Clarke.

Mr. McElroy joined the Maryland Department of the Environment and approved new sanitation plants. He also specialized in efforts to improve the water quality of the Chesapeake Bay.

Mr. McElroy was an activist for racial equality. He sat on the board of Baltimore Neighborhoods, Inc. and worked with the Open Door of Maryland, an adoption advocacy group.

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Mr. McElroy opposed the Vietnam War and marched in demonstrations during the 1960s.

"My father emanated peace," said his daughter, Bridget Cowie. "He showed me that love is cyclical, like evaporation and rain. The more you give, the more your heart grows, the more you have to give."

He was a lay leader and senior warden at the Episcopal Church of the Holy Nativity in Northwest Baltimore.

He was also a 1995 founder of All Gods Children Camp at the Bishop Claggett Center in Buckeystown in Frederick County.

"Ken moved with a steady, grace-filled, justice-inspired determination," said Michael Sarbanes, a friend and Baltimore school administrator. "And things around him blossomed. For me, the All Gods Children camp is a paradigmatic example of his work.

"Ken helped to plan it, organize it, raise funds for it, and make this experience available to hundreds of children. Many of them went on to be counselors. He had this strong, deliberate, nurturing effect on the many projects and people he supported over the years."

His daughter, Deirdre Mary McElroy, said: "My father worked tirelessly for social justice in quiet, abiding ways. He was a ... faithful, reliable man who always had a wide smile and a soft but radical welcome. He cared deeply for the least, the last and the lost."

She said he was a decades-long volunteer at the Church of the Guardian Angel in Remington where he tutored children in math at a homework club.

"He used sports analogies to teach mathematical concepts," said his daughter.

She said: "Ken loved Baltimore City. He cared deeply and worked tirelessly for water quality, affordable housing, social justice and bridging the education divide."

Mr. McElroy enjoyed surf fishing at Holden Beach, North Carolina and Rehoboth Beach, Delaware.

"My father said lengthy prayers before meals, loved his ice cream and had the ability to play fictitious Scrabble words with plausible meanings," said Bridget Cowie, his daughter.

A memorial service will be held at 11 a.m. July 20 at the Episcopal Cathedral of the Incarnation at 4 E. University Parkway.

Survivors include his wife, Dorris Wingfield Smith McElroy, a retired Don Miller House worker; two sons, Patrick McElroy and Brendan McElroy, both of Baltimore; two daughters, Bridget Cowie, of Chevy Case, and Deirdre McElroy, of Columbia; a sister, Pat Smith of Richmond, Virginia; and six grandchildren.