George T. Quinn, director of the FBI's Baltimore field office during the 1970s and a highly decorated Korean War hero, died Monday of kidney cancer at his Lutherville home. He was 70.
He began his career with the FBI in 1955 in Chicago. The former infantry officer was first assigned to Baltimore in 1956 and later was promoted to headquarters in Washington, where he reached the rank of deputy assistant director.
While in Washington, he wrote speeches for agency Director J. Edgar Hoover and for nine seasons was the adviser to the ABC television series, "The FBI," which starred Efrem Zimbalist Jr.
Hoover was pleased with the series, except when Zimbalist took to the air in a helicopter. His complaint was that real federal agents didn't use helicopters.
"We needed some way of getting Erskine [Zimbalist's character] around to different parts of the country quickly," he told The Evening Sun when he retired in 1978. "But they didn't like it in Washington Hoover especially."
Mr. Quinn returned to Baltimore's FBI office in 1975. He was credited with increasing the office's investigating of political corruption and white-collar crime. Under his direction, the field office grew from the 12th largest to the seventh largest in the country.
He once described his career as "quiet and civilized," and claimed never to have foiled a big bank holdup or a kidnapping. However, celebrated cases to which he lent his expertise included the Patty Hearst kidnapping and the 1976 William Bradford Bishop Jr. quintuple murder and disappearance.
"He [Quinn] was an extremely modest man who never told anyone about his accomplishments in life," George B. Brosan, former state police superintendent and now state deputy secretary of public safety and correctional services, said yesterday.
"He was certainly one of my heroes," said retired Baltimore County Police Chief Cornelius J. Behan. "He is a man who leaves a great legacy."
Tim Hynes, who retired from the FBI in 1971, said, "He was one of the most outstanding agents I've known in the last 40 years. He was a tremendous fellow, good boss and street agent."
Mr. Hynes, of Cockeysville, added, "He was a favorite of an awful lot of us. They don't make people like George Quinn every day."
After leaving the FBI, Mr. Quinn worked in several managerial positions for McCormick Properties. Then, until retiring in 1997, he spent 10 years as a vice president and commercial real estate broker with CB Commercial.
Born and raised in Queens, N.Y., the son of a New York City policeman, Mr. Quinn earned a bachelor's degree in philosophy and economics in 1950 from Fordham University.
Drafted into the Army, Mr. Quinn attended Infantry Officers Candidate School at Fort Benning, Ga. After being commissioned a second lieutenant, he was sent to Korea.
On Oct. 15, 1952, Mr. Quinn, who was in charge of a rifle platoon, was part of a three-company assault of 300 men on Triangle Hill, a heavily fortified position.
Though wounded by a hand grenade, Mr. Quinn kept charging up the hill. He was one of 11 survivors of the all-day battle, and the only officer among them.
He had never told his family of his war experiences until this past Thanksgiving when he gathered relatives and explained why he had been decorated with the Silver Star, Bronze Star, Combat Infantryman's Badge, Purple Heart and Presidential Unit Citation.
"He described fellow soldiers crying, some begging to quit, as he drove them up that hill while the enemy rained machine-gun fire and hand grenades on them. He recited the friends and comrades whom he saw killed or maimed and the countless American and Chinese soldiers strewn over the battlefield at the end. For George, it was the most defining day of his life," wrote a son, Kevin Quinn of Queenstown, in his father's eulogy.
Mr. Quinn said the rosary and novena every evening.
"He was convinced that he was spared by God to live a full life, have a family and make a difference," wrote the son.
Mr. Quinn had no interests aside from work and his family, according to relatives.
"He was a family man and a great patriot," Mr. Brosan said.
He was a communicant of Immaculate Conception Roman Catholic Church, Baltimore and Ware avenues, Towson, where a Requiem Mass will be offered at 10 a.m. tomorrow.
He is survived by his wife of 48 years, the former Rita M. Zipp; another son, Neil Quinn of Lutherville; four daughters, Colleen Cashen of Towson, Eileen Wilcox of Lutherville, Patricia Getz of Bel Air and Michaela Kammer of Kirkwood, Mo.; a sister, Jacqueline Boehmer of West Palm Beach, Fla.; and 16 grandchildren.
Pub Date: 1/15/99