Alex Linowitz, a former owner of Lafayette Radio Electronics on North Charles Street and an expert at repairing music boxes, died Friday of complications from Alzheimer's disease at the Fairhaven retirement community in Sykesville. He was 89.
Born in New York City and raised in Brooklyn, Mr. Linowitz attended City College of New York. He did not complete his final semester because of financial hardships his family faced during the Depression.
"He had to quit school and go to work," said a daughter, Judy Doyle of Reisterstown. He attended a radio repair program in New York and began working in that field.
Later, he enlisted in the Army and served in the medical corps as a surgical technician until he was honorably discharged in 1941.
"He was a very creative problem-solver," said another daughter, Delin Colon of Eureka, Calif.
He met his wife, the former Mazel Hadad, in 1945, and three years later the couple moved to Roosevelt, N.J.
Mr. Linowitz and a partner, Jack Rubin, opened an electronics store in the neighboring city of Hightstown. The pair were in business together in New Jersey for 13 years when they decided to open a larger store in Baltimore in 1961.
"They thought they could make a better living in Baltimore for their families," Mrs. Colon said. "They could fix anything." The Baltimore store sold electronics, speakers and radios.
The pair sold the store in 1971, and Mr. Linowitz worked for a short time as a stockbroker and also ran a service station, Mrs. Colon said.
In 1981, he and his wife retired to Largo, Fla., where he tutored students in math and developed a specialty repairing music boxes.
"He began to get referrals from the San Francisco Music Box Company," Mrs. Colon said. When music box companies went out of business, they would sometimes send him spare parts.
The couple moved back to Maryland in 2004 to live at Fairhaven.
Services will be held at 10 a.m. tomorrow at Sol Levinson & Brothers, 8900 Reisterstown Road, Pikesville.
Other survivors include a son, Rick Linowitz of Pikesville; three grandsons; and one granddaughter.