Fred E. Worthington, a longtime trustee of Maryland Institute College of Art and an advocate of preserving Baltimore's historic neighborhoods and landmarks, died Friday of prostate cancer at Hospice of Howard County. He was 71.
Mr. Worthington served on MICA's board of trustees for more than 30 years and played a key role in shaping the school's alumni association in the late 1960s.
"He served in many, many capacities," said Fred Lazarus, president of the Baltimore art institute. "I can't overstate the role he played in helping MICA move from where it was in the 1960s to where it is now."
Mr. Worthington was born in Biglerville, Pa., and raised in Hagerstown. He graduated from Hagerstown High School in 1953 and studied visual design at MICA.
After a brief stint teaching art, he took a job as a graphic designer at Barton-Gillet, a Baltimore design firm that specialized in helping nonprofit organizations and universities craft their marketing image. He later rose to vice president of the company.
Mr. Worthington was an Army reservist and was called to active duty during the administration of President John F. Kennedy for a year in 1961 as Cold War tensions escalated.
He later formed a marketing and design company, Fred E. Worthington Inc., which he ran for 27 years. In 1995, he co-founded another firm, Barton, Matheson, Willse and Worthington.
His clients over the years included numerous universities, AARP, the National Science Foundation and the Smithsonian Institution.
"He had a lot to do with strengthening nonprofits in America," said Douglas Frost, MICA's vice president for development. "He was interested in digging down to the core and asking organizations, 'What is your message and what are you really all about?'"
Mr. Worthington began volunteering for the Maryland chapter of the Leukemia and Lymphoma Society after his second wife, Patricia Worthington, died of leukemia in 1968. An earlier marriage to Louisa Worthington and a subsequent marriage to Barbara Worthington ended in divorce.
In 1973, while developing promotional materials for the Smithsonian, he met Anne R. Gossett, who worked there as curator.
"I became a conflict of interest," said Ms. Gossett, whom he married in 2002. "The priest at our wedding joked that we'd set a world record for the longest engagement."
Mr. Worthington had an abiding affection for historic neighborhoods and buildings. In 1964, he bought an old grist mill in Baltimore's Franklintown neighborhood after seeing it advertised in the newspaper.
He converted the mill into a private house and later initiated efforts to have Franklintown registered as a national historic community. He designed the sign noting that designation, which includes a depiction of his grist mill.
He was a founder of the Friends of Gwynns Falls/Leakin Park, whose members successfully fought plans to extend Interstate 70 through the area in the late 1970s and early 1980s.
"He was one of the leaders of that effort for the west part of the city," Ms. Gossett said.
More recently, Mr. Worthington helped with the renovation of Mount Royal Station, a former Baltimore & Ohio Railroad stop that MICA converted into an arts center.
Mr. Worthington was an avid gardener and once took a landscape class to improve his skills. He and his wife also traveled widely.
A memorial service will be held at 3 p.m. Aug. 16 at MICA's Brown Center, 1301 W. Mount Royal Ave.
He is also survived by his son, Ashton Scott Worthington of New York.
chris.emery@baltsun.com