Marie J. Kahl, a homemaker, former owner of a Perry Hall restaurant and longtime resident of the area, died of cancer Thursday at Gilchrist Center for Hospice Care in Towson. She was 84.

Born in Baltimore and raised in Highlandtown, the former Marie J. Botakowski attended city public schools. She worked as a waitress until her 1940 marriage to Lawrence Kahl.

Together, the couple operated Kahl's Inn in the 9000 block of Belair Road, a business established by her father-in-law in 1900.

The restaurant, said family members, was known for Mrs. Kahl's homemade backfin crab cakes and fried chicken, and once had been home to the 11th District Democratic Club. The couple sold the restaurant in the 1970s and retired. Mr. Kahl died in 1982.

For years, Mrs. Kahl's fried chicken was an eagerly awaited fixture at St. Joseph Roman Catholic Church dinners and annual summer carnivals. She also was a Red Cross volunteer.

Mrs. Kahl was an active communicant at St. Joseph, 8420 Belair Road in Fullerton, where a Mass of Christian burial will be offered at 10 a.m. today.

Survivors include two sons, Henry Kahl of Fallston and Anthony Kahl of Roanoke, Va.; six daughters, Joan Coughlin and Jane Phillips, both of Ellicott City, Stephanie Fecik of Cedar Rapids, Iowa, Susan Sileo of Bradenton, Fla., Barbara Romeo of Hunt Valley and Judith Kyle of Bel Air; two brothers, Henry Botakowski and Carl Botakowski, both of Baltimore; a sister, Helen Lynch of Perry Hall; 17 grandchildren; and three great-grandchildren.