Edward Stonewall "Eddie" Tochterman, former co-owner of T.G. Tochterman & Sons, the venerable Eastern Avenue tackle shop that has kept fishermen in rods and reels for more than 90 years, died in his sleep Sunday at Oak Crest Village retirement community in Parkville. He was 92.
Mr. Tochterman, the son of Thomas G. and Anna K. Tochterman, was born at home at 244 S. Ann St. In 1916, the family moved to 1925 Eastern Ave., where they established a confectionary store.
His father, who also worked at the Booth Fishery in the old Marsh Market, used to bring home unsold fish, fresh peelers or soft crabs, and sold them to streetcar-bound fishermen traveling to the Eastern Baltimore County fishing grounds.
Soon bloodworms, bamboo poles, floats, nightcrawlers, spreaders, lines and bait buckets replaced penny candy, chocolates and chewing gum.
After graduating from Boys Vocational High School in 1933, Mr. Tochterman worked in the family business and also as an assembly-line worker at the old General Motors plant on Broening Highway.
While recuperating at the University of Maryland Hospital from a serious hand injury he received on the assembly line, he met and fell in love with a nurse, the former Catherine E. Carpenter, whom he married in 1939.
After his father's death in 1936, Mr. Tochterman joined his older brother, Thomas G. Tochterman Jr., in taking over operation of the family business.
The two brothers commissioned the Belsinger Sign Co. to fabricate the classic neon sign with a bass breaking the water that has marked the entrance to the store for decades.
During World War II, he enlisted in the Navy and, after completing basic training, was assigned as a medic to the Bainbridge Naval Training Station in Cecil County.
"He wanted to go overseas and get into combat, and he wrote his pastor asking for advice. He wrote back and said if the 'Good Lord and the U.S. Navy want you to be at Bainbridge, that's your mission,'" said his son, Edward "Ted" Tochterman of Kingsville. "So, he spent the war years fighting the Battle of Bainbridge."
After the war, Mr. Tochterman rejoined his brother in the store.
Open from 5 a.m. to 11 p.m., seven days a week, the store through the years became a mecca not only for local fishermen but such luminaries as baseball players Ted Williams, Boog Powell and Don Mattingly; fly fisherman Lefty Kreh; and former Gov. William Donald Schaefer.
"By the mid-1950s, the business had become Maryland's largest fishing and hunting supply store," his son said. "My father was the outside man who sold wholesale. They also owned and operated B & T Sales Co. which was a separate wholesale hardware business."
While his brother operated the Eastern Avenue store, Mr. Tochterman traveled throughout the Middle Atlantic states selling fishing tackle and tools and hardware supplies to Army, Navy, Air Force and Marine Corps base exchange stores.
By the 1960s, his clients included all Sears Roebuck & Co. and Montgomery Ward stores in the area.
"Every October, he got a new Ford station wagon because in the previous year he'd put on at least 40,000 rough miles. Those cars were shot within one year because he also delivered the goods he sold," Ted Tochterman said.
Mr. Kreh, retired Sun outdoors editor, said: "Eddie was a fabulously nice guy and both he and Tommy were the main reason the business has lasted for three generations because of the level of service they gave to their customers.
"They'd rather lose money on a sale in order to make a customer happy," he said. "They realized if a customer wasn't happy, no one was happy, and they always wanted things to be right."
Eddie Tochterman retired in 1982.
A resident of Kingsville since 1957, Mr. Tochterman enjoyed the outdoors and collecting fishing rods and duck stamps. He also created a food pantry for the needy.
"He'd go to the store and buy canned goods and other food which he kept in a basement closet. If he heard that a family was in need or had been through a fire, he'd load up his car and deliver the groceries he had collected," said his son, Ted.
"He also went to yard sales, where he picked up baby clothes, car seats, and other baby equipment that he donated to the Baltimore Crisis Pregnancy Center," his son said. "He was very thoughtful and caring."
Mr. Tochterman and his wife moved to the retirement community in 1997. She died in 2006.
Services will be held at 10:30 a.m. today at the Lassahn Funeral Home, 11750 Belair Road.
Also surviving is a grandson.
fred.rasmussen@baltsun.com