Julius Zulver, a retired co-owner of his family's West Baltimore millwork and lumber business, died of complications from dementia Aug. 9 at his weekend home in Severna Park.
A resident of the Mount Vernon section of Baltimore, he was 94.
Born in Baltimore, he was the son of Isador Zulver, who founded a lumber business, and his wife, the former Hilda Mazer. They family resided in Forest Park.
He attended City College and worked in the family business before joining the Navy during World War II. Family members said he was assigned to the Pacific and was based in Shanghai.
"While there, he found Jews who had fled Germany in the 1930s and found themselves trapped there during the war. He saw their deprivation firsthand," said his daughter, Dalena Zulver Wright of Washington, D.C.
"After the normalization of diplomatic relations in the 1970s, he was one of the first Americans to return to China," she said. "The experience meant the world to him."
After the war, he rejoined the family business, Walbrook Mill and Lumber, on West North Avenue. He worked alongside his brother, Sidney, who ran the milling operations.
The brothers expanded the business, which became known for making custom-sized windows for historic properties. The business also made doors and cabinets and fashioned architectural details.
Their old-fashioned lumber yard, which also had a paint department, was a popular destination for home renovators in the 1970s and 1980s.
Ms. Wright said that her father, who oversaw the business and accounting side of the lumber firm, worked closely with Rouse Co. officials during the construction of the Village of Cross Keys.
He retired from the business in 1996.
In 1947, Mr. Zulver married Selma "Peppy" Meyerson, a Johns Hopkins Hospital psychiatric counselor, in a ceremony at the Alcazar Hotel.
After residing in Mount Washington, they moved into a compact Tyson Street rowhouse.
The home, featured in a 1970 Sunday Sun Magazine article, became a project for Mr. Zulver. He removed all its partitions and extended the rear wall.
Constructed in the early 19th century, the house was so small that Mr. Zulver decided to include a floating staircase built from a hollow steel spine with butcher-block maple treads. To reach the basement, he devised a trap door operated by an electrically powered lift and air compressor.
"I got the idea from watching a dump truck as it released it load," said Mr. Zulver in The Sun article. "The cost was around $300 and we worked on it for three months."
In 1972, he and his wife opened the home for a public tour to benefit disabled children at Camp Greentop at Catoctin Mountain Park near Thurmont.
He also renovated several adjacent properties. In 1980, he spoke on restoration millwork at an Old House Clinic sponsored by the Society for the Preservation of Federal Hill and Fells Point.
Mr. Zulver became well-known throughout Mount Vernon and later bought a sixth-floor apartment at the Washington Apartments overlooking the Washington Monument.
The historic building has no provision for parking, so Mr. Zulver rented a Read Street garage where he kept his antique car collection in good order. He owned and restored a 1939 Chevrolet roadster, a 1924 Ford and a two-toned Rolls-Royce, which he occasionally displayed along Mount Vernon Place.
He was active in the Mount Vernon Belvedere Association and the Friends of Mount Vernon Place. He paid for the cleaning of a bronze statue in the square.
"Julius was a genuine character," said a former neighbor, George W. Johnston. "I'd be coming home from dinner and he'd be going out dancing. He seized life and lived it well."
Mr. Johnston recalled Mr. Zulver's energy. "He lived on the sixth floor and never took the elevator. He ran up and down the stairs."
He said Mr. Zulver was committed to the upkeep of the cooperatively owned Washington Apartments, and used his knowledge of building materials to inform the building's board about its care.
"Julius loved opera. His favorite was 'Nabucco,'" said a friend, Gail Kaplan, who operated the Polo Grill restaurant with her husband, Lenny, where Mr. Zulver often dined.
"He loved outdoor markets and exploring cities," said Ms. Kaplan. "And dancing. He would be out five nights a week, from Glen Burnie to Towson and the Pikesville Senior Center at ballroom dances."
He was a donor to the Central Scholarship Fund and to FlowerMart.
Services were Aug. 12 at Beth Tfiloh Cemetery.
In addition to his daughter, survivors include a son, Elliot Zulver of Baltimore; and a granddaughter. His wife of nearly 50 years died in 1996.