Edgar G. Shilling, retired Howard County Department of Fire and Rescue Services chief deputy, died of pneumonia complications Friday at Howard County General Hospital. The lifelong Elkridge resident was 63.
Born in Baltimore and raised in Elkridge, he began his career in July 1959 as a 15-year-old with the Elkridge Volunteer Fire Department.
He played football at Loyola High School, from which he graduated in 1962. He served in the Navy aboard the USS Rigel in the Mediterranean.
In 1969, the Elkridge department hired him as a paid driver. In 1971, when the charter government in Howard County established the Department of Fire and Rescue, Mr. Shilling became a Howard County firefighter.
He was promoted numerous times in his career and worked in nearly all of the county's fire stations. He retired with the rank of chief deputy in late 2000.
Family members said he wrote and implemented the county's initial Fire Prevention Code. He was instrumental in the department's obtaining national accreditation in 1999. After his first retirement, Mr. Shilling returned to the department as a civilian employee in the Fire Marshal's Office.
He was a member of the International Association of Firefighters and the International Association of Fire Chiefs, and was an instructor at the Maryland Fire and Rescue Institute.
In addition to spending time with his family, Mr. Shilling enjoyed camping, fishing, singing, bowling, golf and horse racing. He spent many seasons as a coach, referee and umpire with the Elkridge Youth Organization and was its first basketball program commissioner.
Until his death, he was on the board of directors of the Linwood Center in Ellicott City, which provides services and shelter for autistic children and adults.
A Mass will be offered at 10 a.m. Saturday at St. Augustine Roman Catholic Church, 5976 Old Washington Road, where he was a eucharistic minister.
Survivors include his wife of 39 years, the former Jane Castiglia; two sons, Edgar G. Shilling Jr. and Jeffrey Shilling, both of Elkridge; a brother, Roy Shilling of Sharpsburg; and four grandsons.