Carroll Robbins Armstrong, a former president of the Baltimore Area Convention and Visitors Bureau, died of pneumonia related to cardiac arrest Dec. 20 at Sinai Hospital. The Village of Cross Keys resident was 65.
Born in Baltimore, he was a 1962 Forest Park High School graduate. He then attended the Peabody Conservatory, where he studied trumpet and piano. He also studied at the Juilliard School of Music in New York City.
Family members said he found his way to Greenwich Village, where he played trumpet and keyboard alongside Miles Davis, Lee Morgan and Jackie McLean. He later joined his brother, Rocky, and the rhythm-and-blues group the Softones. Mr. Armstrong played the horn and opened for musical acts such as the Chi-Lites and the Commodores, as well as Curtis Mayfield, along the East Coast and in the South.
"He made friends very easily and he kept them for life," said his wife, the former Barbara Blount. "He had a magnetic personality. He was very much into helping people reach their potential."
Mr. Armstrong joined Baltimore's Civil Service Commission in the mid-1970s and he later joined the old Baltimore Convention Bureau, which at that time was beginning to market the city as a convention destination. Mr. Armstrong later took jobs in Washington, New Orleans and San Diego, where he launched newly constructed or expanded convention centers.
In 1996, he was named president and CEO of the Baltimore Area Convention and Visitors Association. During his tenure, he envisioned a hotel connected by a bridge to the Convention Center and worked with a design team to create a visitors center in the Inner Harbor. He held the post until 2003.
In 2005, Mr. Armstrong retired from the hospitality industry after working with ConventionPlanit.com, a meeting planning Web portal.
Mr. Armstrong was the co-founder and first national president of the Association of Convention Marketing Executives, among other professional organizations.
In his free time, he played piano and followed favorite TV shows.
A Mass of Christian burial was offered Wednesday at St. Ignatius Roman Catholic Church.
Survivors include his wife of 30 years; his brother, Roderick Armstrong of Lutherville; his mother, Margaret DeMan Armstrong of Baltimore; and nieces and nephews.
-