Herbert L. Zorn, retired owner of a Glen Burnie printing company and a boating enthusiast, died Monday of a neurological disease, Shy-Drager Syndrome, at his home on Spa Creek in Eastport. He was 76.
A former president and chief executive officer of Baltimore Envelope, where he began as a salesman in the 1950s, Mr. Zorn founded Admiral Envelope and Printing on North Fulton Avenue. He moved the business to Glen Burnie in 1994, the year he retired.
A Republican, he ran unsuccessfully for the state Senate in 1962.
Born in Philadelphia, he moved to Baltimore with his family as an infant and was raised on Granada Avenue.
He served two years in the Navy after his 1944 graduation from Forest Park High School.
Family members said Mr. Zorn was an amateur singer and appeared on a Chicago stage with the Tommy Dorsey orchestra in the 1940s. As a child, he danced with his sister, Gladys Zorn Blackstone, on the stage of the old Hippodrome in downtown Baltimore.
He owned antique mahogany pleasure boats, including Chris-Crafts. His favorite was a 1931, 22-foot runabout, Class of 1931.
Mr. Zorn was a skier and founder of the Crabtowne Ski Club. He was co-founder of the Chesapeake Bay Chapter of the Antique and Classic Boat Society and was a former international vice president of the Antique and Classic Boat Society.
He also was active in the Eastport Business Association, Eastport Civic Association and Entrepreneurs Exchange in Annapolis. He was a member of the Annapolis and Eastport yacht clubs, and a charter member of the Annapolis Marching & Chowder Society.
Mr. Zorn was a member of the Annapolis Masonic Lodge and the Shriners.
A memorial service will be held at 1 p.m. Saturday at Eastport United Methodist Church, 926 Bay Ridge Ave. In keeping with an Annapolis spring boating ritual of the burning of the socks, he requested that no socks be worn at his service.
He is survived by his wife of eight years, the former Linda Smith; a son, Gary Zorn of Annapolis; two daughters, Marcy Von Goerres of Lewes, Del., and Shirley Stinchcomb of Linthicum; and four grandchildren. A previous marriage ended in divorce in 1969.