John T. Galvin III, a retired Baltimore lumber company executive and a World War II naval veteran, was stricken with a stroke at his Ocean City summer home and died Saturday at Johns Hopkins Hospital. He was 88.
Mr. Galvin, the son of a lumber company executive and a homemaker, was born in Baltimore and raised in Cedarcroft.
He was a 1939 graduate of Loyola High School and earned a bachelor's degree in January 1943 from what is now Loyola University of Maryland.
The next month, Mr. Galvin, along with many of his college classmates, entered the V-70 90-day training program at the U.S. Naval Reserve Midshipmen's School in New York City and was commissioned an ensign in June 1943.
Because his training had been with amphibious forces, he joined the USS Landing Ship Tank 123 as a first lieutenant and cargo officer.
"We went through the Panama Canal on to the South Pacific where we made many landings at Guadalcanal, Bougainville, Marshall Islands and the Gilbert Islands," Mr. Galvin wrote in unpublished autobiographical notes. "Then to Pearl Harbor and then back to Leyte and Luzon."
"He recalled being on deck when the ship was under attack from kamikazes and being shot at," said his son, Thomas M. Galvin of Greenwich, Conn. "He was hit by a piece of shrapnel and because he was wearing a life jacket, it saved his life."
When the 123 returned to Oakland, Calif., for an overhaul, Mr. Galvin was assigned to USS Landing Ship Tank 482 as executive officer.
"We went out again to Japan, where I succeeded the commanding officer as captain," he wrote.
With the war ended, Mr. Galvin said the 482 distributed cargo to Japanese ports.
"We then took the ship to Guam, stripped the guns etc., and then returned to Yokohama. The ship was decommissioned in 1946 and given to the Japanese so they could repatriate their own troops," Mr. Galvin wrote.
Mr. Galvin was discharged in 1946 from the Navy and was recalled to active duty during the Korean War. He completed his naval service at Norfolk, Va., in 1952.
"His hobby was attending World War II LST reunions with his wife, Dotty," his son said.
"He loved the camaraderie, and it was a very strong bond for him. He always had a hat from one of the reunions in the back of his car or on his desk," he said.
After his 1946 discharge, Mr. Galvin studied law for a year at the University of Baltimore while working at Horstmeier Lumber Co.
The family-owned wholesale lumber business, with its planing mill, warehouses and company headquarters in the 900 block of Lancaster St., had been purchased in 1902 by Mr. Galvin's grandfather from the Horstmeier family, which had founded the business in 1877.
"The lumber was still being brought to the mill by horse and carriage until my grandfather passed away in 1957," said a daughter, Kathleen G. Will of Rosemont, Pa. "In 1957, my father's uncle allowed my dad to purchase the first forklift."
Because of the proposed extension in the late 1970s of the Jones Falls Expressway through Fells Point, Mr. Galvin relocated the business, which is still family-owned and -operated, to its present location in the 1600 block of Ridgely St.
Mr. Galvin was vice president of Horstmeier Lumber Co. at the time of his 2002 retirement.
"Like his brother and sisters, he was a true and loyal friend for many, many years. He was absolutely tops," said James J. Lacy, a retired insurance executive who was the former president of the city Board of Fire Commissioners. "And like his brother and sisters, he had the highest integrity in life, and a great devotion to his Catholic faith."
Mr. Galvin enjoyed collecting antique toys and setting up Christmas gardens with his Lionel standard-gauge trains that dated to the 1920s, and including other toys that he preserved from his boyhood.
The Towson resident had a keen interest in World War II history and liked watching the History Channel and completing crossword puzzles. He also enjoyed spending summers at his Ocean City vacation home.
His wife of 30 years, the former Dorothy O'Malley, died in 2009.
"The things he held most important were family, faith and his Irish heritage," Mrs. Will said.
He was a communicant of Immaculate Conception Roman Catholic Church in Towson, and also attended St. Ignatius Roman Catholic Church, 740 N. Calvert St., where a memorial Mass will be offered at noon Thursday.
Also surviving is another daughter, Mary Carol Galvin of Ventura, Calif.; four stepsons, Edward P. O'Malley of Selbyville, Del., Kevin R. O'Malley and Patrick G. O'Malley, both of Crownsville, and Owen G. O'Malley of Boca Raton, Fla.; two stepdaughters, Peggy O'Malley of Selbyville and Kathleen O. "Kate" Ferrante of Towson; a sister, Ella Galvin O'Conor of Timonium; and 19 grandchildren. Another son, John T. Galvin IV, died in 1986. An earlier marriage to the former Elizabeth Kelly ended in divorce.