John Francis Duke Jr. a real estate appraiser and avid sailor who was known to family and friends as a living map of Baltimore and the Chesapeake Bay, died of lung cancer Saturday at Gilchrist Center for Hospice Care. The Homeland resident was 76.
Born and raised in Roland Park and Homeland, Mr. Duke attended St. Paul's School for Boys and graduated from the Park School in 1944. He also attended the Johns Hopkins University for several years.
Mr. Duke worked in the mortgage department of a downtown real estate company in Baltimore and took courses at Harvard University and the Massachusetts Institute of Technology before receiving his professional certificate in real estate appraisal in 1956. He made appraisals on houses all across Maryland.
"He was very familiar with all of the small streets in Baltimore," said his daughter, Eleanor Parrott Duke of Baltimore. "People would always call him up for directions."
Mr. Duke was equally familiar with the waterways of Chesapeake, where he spent most weekends cruising on his 32-foot sailboat, Tuffet.
"Jack loved to sail and putt around the Chesapeake. He knew it inside and out," said Hanlon Murphy, a lifelong friend who often joined the family on weekend boat trips. "We had a blast."
His lifelong love of sailing coincided with a shift in his business focus from residential appraisals to industrial and commercial real estate - particularly waterfront properties such as the Inner Harbor, Assateague Island and locations around the Chesapeake.
He was a former president of the Society of Appraisers.
In 1951, he married Mary Iglehart Taylor. They had six children, two of whom died young - his only son from an accident in his late 20s, and a daughter who was hospitalized for 28 of her 30 years.
Ms. Duke said her father put the family first, being particularly proud of a "Silver Cup" trophy given to him by a Cedarcroft preschool for attending the Christmas pageants and graduations of his children who attended there.
Mr. Duke retired in 1993, and devoted his time to varied activities in addition to sailing. He refinished and repaired antique furniture at a home workshop and tended vegetables in his backyard garden.
Mr. Duke came from a long line of Marylanders, and traced his genealogy to ancestors who crossed the Atlantic from England in the 17th century and settled in Leonardtown. He continued his interest as a member of the Society of the Ark and the Dove, and visited Civil War re-enactments in Gettysburg.
He and his wife traveled extensively in Europe, and visited countries elsewhere including Egypt, Turkey and Israel.
Memorial donations may be made to Hospice of Baltimore, 6701 N. Charles St., Towson 21204.
A memorial Mass was offered yesterday at the Cathedral of Mary Our Queen.
In addition to his wife and daughter, Mr. Duke is survived by daughters Deborah Digges Duke Davis of Springfield, Pa., Mary Iglehart Duke Rollins of Baltimore and Elizabeth VanDoren Duke Barnett of Westminster; nine grandchildren; and three great-grandsons.