Louis V. Koerber, who owned a long-established Fells Point paint company and was co-founder of the Pause for the Pledge of Allegiance on Flag Day, died Friday at the Blakehurst Retirement Community of Alzheimer's complications. He was 83.
Born in Baltimore and raised in Parkville, Mr. Koerber was a 1954 graduate of McDonogh School, which he attended on a scholarship after his father died when he was 10. He lettered in baseball and football and was the Maryland Scholastic Association batting champion in 1945 with a .552 average. His name appeared in dozens of news accounts in The Baltimore Sun, including one that said, "McDonogh Nips Gilman, Koerber's Basket in Final Seconds Wins Thriller."
As Mr. Koerber was about to graduate in 1945, another Sun article described his winning the MSA batting title, a feat that capped a "brilliant athletic career. … He is the highest ranking officer at the military school, as cadet major, and a three-letter athlete. For the past two years he quarterbacked the football team, starred as forward on the basketball five and last year made The Sun's All Maryland Scholastic Association nine."
Mr. Koerber earned an engineering degree at the Johns Hopkins University, where he lettered four years on the varsity baseball and football teams and was captain of the 1948 football team, which received a bid to the Tangerine Bowl.
"He cultivated his love of sports after college as well and served as a college football official for 20 years, including two Army-Navy games, an Orange Bowl and a Sugar Bowl," said his son, L. Brian Koerber of Baltimore.
Mr. Koerber joined the Bethlehem Steel Corp. and became an industrial engineer. He went through management training and worked with American Marietta, a supplier to the steel giant.
In 1949, he married Mary Lee Gardner, whose great-grandfather, George Budeke, founded a paint company in Fells Point in 1868. In 1965, Mr. Koerber's father-in-law asked him join the family business.
Mr. Koerber took two weeks off and traveled with Budeke personnel on their sales rounds before he agreed to join the business.
"It was then a 97-year-old family firm with a handful of people nearing retirement," his son said.
Mr. Koerber soon brought modern business practices to the paint firm and modernized its South Broadway facilities.
"His style in business was the same as in his personal life," his son said. "He stressed fairness, high ethics and teamwork."
Mr. Koerber was born on the Fourth of July. He co-founded the American Flag Foundation in 1982 and served as its president for nearly 20 years. He rallied mayors, governors, members of Congress, presidents, business people and citizens to share in his love of country and flag.
In 1983, he appeared with singer Eddy Arnold at Fort McHenry for Flag Day ceremonies.
"I really feel what we are seeing is a renewed feeling of patriotism," he told an Evening Sun reporter. "There was just a period when our country went through an unfortunate time. We wouldn't have this many people here today if people weren't patriotic."
In 1985, President Ronald Reagan joined Mr. Koerber for the celebrations at Fort McHenry and signed into law the recognition of the Pause for the Pledge as an official part of Flag Day.
"He will be remembered by many for the sparkle in his eye, his calm demeanor and his sense of always doing the right thing," said his son.
Then-Mayor William Donald Schaefer tapped Mr. Koerber to head his Mayor's Advisory Committee on Fells Point. The group advised on the controversial disposition of dozens of rowhouses condemned for an interstate highway that was never completed.
Mr. Koerber also served in leadership roles for the Johns Hopkins University Alumni Association and Johns Hopkins Club and was a member of the Rotary Club of Baltimore City.
A memorial service will be held at 11 a.m. Saturday at the First English Evangelical Lutheran Church, Charles and 39th streets.
In addition to his son, survivors include his wife of nine years, the former Ursula Stewart; a daughter, Susan B. Koerber of Sykesville; and two grandchildren. His wife of 51 years died in 2001. His daughter, Cynthia B. Koerber, died in 1999.