Albert Berney, a retired president the old Hamburger's men's clothing store who served on numerous civic boards, died of respiratory disease Tuesday at Keswick Multi-Care Center. The North Baltimore resident was 88.
Born in Baltimore and raised in Reservoir Hill in the Esplanade apartments, he attended Park School and was a 1936 Polytechnic Institute graduate. He earned a degree in accounting at Antioch College in Ohio and was a lieutenant in the Navy in the South Pacific during World War II.
In 1949, he became controller of the business founded by his great-grandfather Isaac Hamburger in 1850. In 1959, he became president and oversaw the construction of a Hamburger's store that spanned Fayette Street in the urban renewal effort known as Charles Center. He also established suburban locations.
"Hamburger's was one of the first businesses to back the Charles Center plan," said his son Louis Berney of Baltimore. "Their old building served them well, but he wanted to go along with the idea of rebuilding downtown Baltimore."
After his business became a Phillips Van Heusen Corp. subsidiary, Mr. Berney resigned in 1969. For a time, until 1975, he was a vice president of Antioch College. He then lived for about 15 years in Colorado.
In 1966, Mayor Theodore R. McKeldin named Mr. Berney chairman of the city's Community Action Agency, a federal anti-poverty program. A Sun editorial praised him for his "open-mindedness and flexibility" in dealing with those "wrought by social and economic deprivation."
He was president of Sinai Hospital and was board vice president of the Enoch Pratt Free Library. He also was president of the Jewish Family & Children's Bureau, the Maryland Council of Social Welfare, and the Maryland Council of Retail Merchants and the Retail Merchants of Baltimore.
An active Democratic Party member, he was a past president of the Maryland chapter of Americans for Democratic Action.
During the last two decades of his life Mr. Berney ran a travel business. He and his wife, Carla Hochschild Berney, a great-niece of a co-founder of the Hochschild-Kohn stores, traveled extensively together. He was the first president of Maryland-Rio de Janeiro Partners of the Alliance. Last year, he traveled to Egypt, the 71st country he had visited.
He was a student during the past decade at the Johns Hopkins University's Evergreen Society and was chairman of its advisory committee. He liked to solve mathematical and word puzzles and belonged to the National Puzzlers League.
A memorial gathering will be held at 2 p.m. Sunday at Highfield House, 4000 N. Charles St.
In addition to his son, survivors include another son, David Berney of Baltimore; two daughters, Kay Berney and Kim Berney, also of Baltimore; and six grandchildren. His wife of 47 years died in 1991.
jacques.kelly@baltsun.com