John A. Williamson, president of Beaver Dam Realty Inc. and managing partner of Veneers LLC, died June 19 at Johns Hopkins Hospital. He was 82.
The cause of death is awaiting the results of an autopsy, said his wife of 23 years, the former Mary Hauptman.
Mr. Williamson, the son of a veneer manufacturer and a homemaker, was born in Baltimore and raised in Towson. He attended Gilman School, McDonogh School and graduated from the Putney School in Vermont.
He later attended Harvard University and Johns Hopkins University and served in the Air Force as an instructor in navigation.
Mr. Williamson went to work for his father, who owned Veneers LLC, a veneer manufacturing company, on Veneer Lane in Cockeysville. After the death of his father in 1966, he assumed operation of the company.
Mr. Williamson traveled around the world seeking quality resources of hardwood that could be used for veneer. He also regularly visited High Point, N.C., where he collaborated with furniture manufacturers.
Mr. Williamson built a veneer mill in Central America. After Tropical Storm Agnes flooded his Cockeysville facility in 1972, he decided to suspend operations and sell the mill. The former Cockeysville facility is now used as a warehouse for various tenants.
Mr. Williamson had not retired and was working until his death with Beaver Dam Realty, which dealt in commercial and residential properties.
He was an accomplished Chesapeake Bay sailor and had competed for years in regattas. He also enjoyed reading history and novels and listening to classical music.
He also liked raising orchids in his greenhouse at his home in the Hampton neighborhood of Baltimore County.
Mr. Williamson was a member of the Gibson Island Club.
There are no services.
Also surviving are three daughters, Lucy W. Zouck of Baltimore, Barbara Williamson of Poway, Calif., and Jan W. Hagner of Locust Valley, N.Y.; a sister, Margaret W. Fowler of Gibson Island; and seven grandchildren.