Douglass B. Forsyth, a retired advertising executive who helped create campaigns to promote Columbia in its beginning days, died of Alzheimer's disease complications Jan. 26 at the Gilchrist Center for Hospice Care. The Guilford resident was 69.

Born in Baltimore and raised on University Parkway, he was a 1956 St. Paul's School for Boys graduate. He sang in its choir and was awarded its 1953 choral medal. He earned an English degree at Princeton University.

Mr. Forsyth joined the old VanSant Dugdale & Co. and later was assistant director of public relations at the Johns Hopkins medical institutions. For a year in the mid-1960s, he was assistant director of information at the old Rouse Co. and created the Next America exhibit for what became Columbia. He also worked on early advertising campaigns for the Village of Cross Keys.

"He was an old-style copywriter. He sat down with a pad and pencil and stared out by a window until an idea came to him. He worked in small, orderly handwriting. He was a neat and meticulous person and a talented wordsmith," said Fred Craig, a friend who is former president of Brown & Craig architects. "He loved his writing, and he never, to my knowledge, missed a deadline."

Mr. Forsyth joined the W.B. Doner advertising agency in 1968 and served as senior copywriter before becoming vice president of Ashton-Worthington, a design and publication firm. He wrote copy for nearly 25 years. Among the campaigns he directed was a successful plan to raise restoration funds for Lovely Lane United Methodist Church on St. Paul Street.

"His quiet, gentle personality was evident in his writing," said his daughter Kimberly Forsyth of Baltimore. "He admired and appreciated the graphic art of his co-workers and welcomed the challenge of interpreting their visual art work into words."

In 1994, he became vice president of the North Charles Street Design Organization and also worked with numerous academic clients, including the University of Chicago and Vassar College. He retired in 1999.

"Dad read Paris Match regularly and kept a box of Larouse vocabulary flashcards on his bureau. He chose a couple of words daily to test his French resources," his daughter said. "He would read French articles and would circle the words he did not recognize so that he continually expanded his vocabulary.

Mr. Forsyth enjoyed singing with local groups. He sang in the Baltimore Symphony Chorus and more recently with the Handel Choir of Baltimore. He also enjoyed sailing on the Chesapeake Bay.

"Dad's nightly routine included playing the piano either with his scotch at cocktail hour or just before his bedtime bath," his daughter said.

Services will be held at noon today at Old St. Paul's Episcopal Church, Charles and Saratoga streets, where he was a communicant.

In addition to his daughter, survivors include his wife of nearly 47 years, Mary Joyce Klapproth; two other daughters, Jennifer Forsyth of Boston and Whitney Forsyth Hazzard of Seattle; and two grandchildren.

jacques.kelly@baltsun.com