Milton Jenkins Dance Jr., an internationally known horse auctioneer, thoroughbred owner and cancer survivor who endowed the Milton J. Dance Jr. Head and Neck Cancer Rehabilitation Center at Greater Baltimore Medical Center, died of a heart attack Thursday at his home in Manalapan, Fla. He was 76.

Mr. Dance, who was known as Laddie, was born and raised in Glen Arm, the son of Milton J. Dance Sr., who established an auction and appraisal business in Towson in 1912. As a youth, he learned the auction business working with his father.

After graduating from Towson High School in 1944, Mr. Dance enlisted in the Navy and served in the Pacific theater with a torpedo-bomber unit.

He returned to the Baltimore area after the war, and joined his father's auction business. In the early 1950s, he joined Fasig-Tipton Co., a Lexington, Ky.-based horse auctioneer, and during his 45-year career presided over thousands of auctions.

"He was renowned as a great auctioneer and knew everybody from Paul Newman to the queen of England," said Sherman Scott Dance, a nephew in Easton.

"He was outgoing and a gregarious fellow and it was always quite thrilling to watch him dealing with huge sums of money as people bid millions of dollars on horses," he said. "He always wore black tie, the horses were beautiful, and the atmosphere was always very plush."

With his mellifluous voice and well-tailored presence, Mr. Dance was an integral part of the elegant surroundings and drama of the auctions he called. "And he could carry on for a long time without drawing a breath," the nephew said.

"He was an utterly charming person and an absolute international figure in auctioneering and as a horse owner. He was everyone's friend," said Snowden Carter, former editor of Maryland Horse who was general manager of the Maryland Horse Breeders Association from 1962 to 1986.

"Some of the auctions he called were the yearling sales at Saratoga, the 2-year-olds at Calder Place Race Course near Miami, and also in Canada," said Hiram Stephens Dance, another nephew, who is president of Milton J. Dance Sr. Auctions and lives in Glen Arm.

"He conducted regional auctions in Maryland, California, Chicago, and at Belmont in New York. He also did standard breed auctions at Yonkers Raceway and at Liberty Bell Park in Philadelphia," he said. "There wasn't a better set of eyes at any auction, anyplace, anytime. He didn't miss a thing."

"He had an incredible knowledge of racing and thoroughbred racing," said Jim McKay, former anchor of ABC's Wide World of Sports and founder and chairman of the Maryland Million racing event. "He was also a real Marylander who loved the state and spread the word wherever he went in the horse world."

In 1971, Mr. Dance began suffering from hoarseness while working. The problem was found to be cancer of the vocal cords.

"Without a voice," he told The Evening Sun in a 1979 interview, "an auctioneer would be kind of like a eunuch in a love contest."

After being successfully treated, Mr. Dance and his wife, the former Jeanne Gilchrist "Jinny" Vance, donated $400,000 in 1979 toward the establishment of the comprehensive head and neck cancer treatment center at GBMC.

Mr. Dance left Fasig-Tipton to establish his own auction house, Horsemen's Bloodstock Services, in 1993 with John Finney, a former chairman of the firm. It was closed after Mr. Finney's death in 1995.

Mr. Dance was also the successful owner with his wife of a thoroughbred racing stable, which the couple maintained at Taylor's Purchase, their 250-acre Baltimore County horse farm.

They were the owners of Lemon Drop Kid, which they purchased as a yearling for $200,000. The horse ran ninth in the 1999 Kentucky Derby, but won an upset victory in the Belmont Stakes - dashing Charismatic's hopes for a Triple Crown.

The Dances sold Lemon Drop Kid the next year for $30 million.

In recent years, Mr. Dance divided his time between his farm and Florida home. He was an avid golfer and enjoyed hunting ducks and geese.

Mr. Dance was a member of the Baltimore Country Club, Ducks Unlimited and Sons of Confederate Veterans.

Mr. Dance's previous marriages to the former Reeves Price, Margaret Finney and Susan Cole ended in divorce.

He was a member of Chestnut Grove Presbyterian Church, 3701 Sweet Air Road in Phoenix, where a memorial service will be held at 11 a.m. tomorrow.

In addition to his wife, Mr. Dance is survived by four daughters, Deetzie Walker of Monkton, Macey Kimsey of Harrisonburg, Va., Laura Alexander of Bel Air and Sara Parr of Towson; two stepsons, Mark Smith of Bradenton, Fla., and Robert Smith of Tequesta, Fla.; and 11 grandchildren.