Katherine S. "Kay" Butz was barely out of high school when she became one of the first women to hold a management position with the port of Baltimore.
In a career that spanned two decades, the former Kay Strohecker promoted the port, organized major relief projects and rose to the highest levels of several shipping companies.
Mrs. Butz died Friday of renal thrombosis at her home in Roland Park. She was 81.
In 1936, shortly after she graduated from Notre Dame Preparatory School, she took a job with Furness Withy Ltd., where she was responsible for receiving shipments in Baltimore and dispersing them throughout the West Indies. She led tours of the shipping piers to promote the port, then the second-largest on the East Coast. During her career, she organized several major projects, including supply missions to India and France.
"Kay was one of the very early women who worked in the public arena in the maritime and transportation field," recalled former Rep. Helen Delich Bentley, who as The Sun's maritime editor covered Mrs. Butz after World War II.
"She knew her stuff. She was a hard worker, as all women are who want to get ahead," said Mrs. Bentley.
Mrs. Bentley also recalled that the men who ran the port treated her with respect.
"Kay wasn't tough, but she was firm. She wasn't somebody who could be persuaded to change her mind easily," said Mrs. Bentley, who recalled that Mrs. Butz was one of the founders of the Women's Maritime Club of Baltimore.
"She became 'Miss Kay' to everybody, because she was ubiquitous," said a nephew, George Strohecker. "She was even recognized at the all-male Merchants Club."
After the war, she joined Dyson Shipping Co. Inc. of New York, eventually becoming manager of its Baltimore office. She later worked as assistant to the president of Penn-Maryland Steamship Corp.
In her retirement, she volunteered for the Red Cross at the Fort Howard Veterans Hospital and with Meals on Wheels. She also was on the advisory board of the League for the Handicapped.
She married Charles R. Butz, vice president of Ramsay, Scarlett & Co., in 1961. He died in 1988.
A Mass of Christian burial will be offered at 10 a.m. today at SS. Philip and James Roman Catholic Church, 2801 N. Charles St.
She is survived by a sister, Marie S. Landefeld of Timonium; and two stepdaughters, Barbara B. Logan of Amherst, N.H., and Dorothy B. Britton of Alexandria, Va.
Pub Date: 3/02/99