David B. McElroy

The Baltimore Sun

David Boone McElroy, a graphic designer and former art director of the old Sun Magazine, died of multiple sclerosis June 28 at Gilchrist Center for Hospice Care. The Parkville resident was 54.

Mr. McElroy was born in Baltimore and raised in Northwood and Parkville. He was a 1972 graduate of Calvert Hall College High School and studied graphic design at what is now Towson University and the Professional Institute of Commercial Art in Reisterstown.

He began his career in the early 1970s, at Towson University as assistant to graphic designer Mike Dunne.

"He was a budding artist, and it was obvious that he had a natural talent for it," said June Smith, who was then assistant director of news and publications at the university. "He was a contagious bolt of lightning who could laugh at life. He was a bad boy but a good man."

In 1977, he joined the staff of The Sunday Sun, where he worked on the magazine and designed feature graphics.

"When he came to The Sunday Sun in the late 1970s, he really lit the place up. It had been dreary as an East German gulag until then. He brought mirth, light, creativity, fun, joy, explosive humor - life, in short," said former colleague Stephen Hunter, now a film critic for The Washington Post.

"Dave was a genius with so many ideas. He had a great grasp of art and graphics, and always did great work," said Louis Moriconi, a former Sunday Sun artist.

"His work tended toward the cartoon side, but I always thought design was his strong point," said Charles R. "Hap" Hazard, a retired Sun artist. "His true art was interacting with people. He was a happy man who was always laughing."

In his first piece of work for The Sunday Sun, an illustration for the Maryland State Fair, he promised his former colleague at Towson that he'd send her a hidden message.

"It took me hours to find, but there in the cross-hatching background was 'Hi June,'" Mrs. Smith recalled.

"Dave totally caught my eye when I would see him around town. Handsome devil, totally gregarious and high-spirited - whenever he'd see someone he knew, he just lit up," said Jean Marbella, a Sun columnist.

Mr. McElroy's flamboyant and outgoing personality was highlighted by a sartorial splendor that manifested itself in double-breasted Armani suits, Italian shoes (never with socks), and white shirts with French cuffs worn with hand-printed silk ties.

In the winter months, he draped a scarf over his shoulders that fell equally on either side of his suit jacket, to ward off the chill of a room.

"He got all that stuff at C-Mart in Bel Air, and at the time, he was wearing Armani suits that cost him no more than $50," said his former wife, Diana Wagner of Parkton.

"It was the 1970s, and Saturday Night Live was popular then, and Dave was just this wild and crazy guy from Calvert Hall," Mr. Hazard said with a laugh.

In 1980, he and Mr. Moriconi left The Sunday Sun and established Silver Shoe Graphics in Charles Village, a business they operated until dissolving it in 1997.

"Deadlines amused Dave. He drove editors and clients crazy with his last-minute rushes to complete graphic designs and illustrations," said Dan Rodricks, longtime friend and a Sun columnist.

"One time, having promised to make a promotional poster for an important fundraiser for a Baltimore nonprofit, Dave pretty much drew the thing on the front seat of his BMW while racing to a board meeting," Mr. Rodricks said. "He was late for the meeting, of course. But when board members saw his design, they loved it!"

In 1995, Mr. McElroy was diagnosed with multiple sclerosis, which eventually robbed him of his ability to work as a freelance artist and designer.

"Dave was one of the most creative, stylish and fun-loving guys we've ever known, at The Sun or outside The Sun," Mr. Rodricks said. "It was very hard to see someone with so much joie de vivre struggle for so long with such a crippling affliction. He was an artist who lost control of his hands."

"The last time I saw him was at a St. Patrick's Day parade. He was on a cane and couldn't walk very well," Mr. Hazard said. "But there was Dave, the good Irishman, upbeat and always the straightforward optimist."

A Mass of Christian burial will be offered at 10 a.m. Tuesday at Our Lady of Grace Roman Catholic Church, 18310 Middletown Road, Parkton.

Also surviving is his daughter, Sara H. McElroy of Parkton; his mother, Mary Eileen McElroy of Parkville; a brother, William McElroy III of Parkville; and two sisters, Mary Pat McElroy of Carney and Joanne Kreis of Belgrade, Mont.

fred.rasmussen@baltsun.com

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