William F. Amann, a retired accountant and Internal Revenue Service auditor, died of an aneurysm Wednesday at the Sanctuary at Holy Cross Hospice in Burtonsville. He was 94 and had lived in Catonsville and Ellicott City.
Born in Johnstown, Pa., he moved to Sparrows Point as a child when his father took a job as a foreman at the Bethlehem Steel Co.
After graduating from Sparrows Point High School in 1933, he worked for the steel company. During World War II, he served in the Navy in the Philippine Islands.
After the war, he earned degrees in accounting and law from the old Baltimore College of Commerce and the Mount Vernon School of Law. In 1962, he became a certified public accountant.
He worked in accounting and auditing for both the IRS and the Department of Health and Human Services.
Mr. Amann sang in Roman Catholic Church choirs for 60 years. He began at St. Luke's in Sparrows Point, then sang at St. Ignatius on Calvert Street and finally at St. Agnes and St. Mark in Catonsville.
"One of his greatest disappointments was the practical abandonment and rejection of Latin and Gregorian chant by the Catholic Church in the aftermath of Vatican II," said his son, David W. Amann of Catonsville.
Family members said he always had a joke or a story handy and made people feel at ease when offering accounting or tax advice to the clients of the small accounting service he started in the 1960s.
A Mass of Christian burial will be offered at 10 a.m. today at St. Agnes Church, 5422 Old Frederick Road in Catonsville.
In addition to his son, survivors include his wife of 57 years, the former Frances Quinn; another son, Timothy Q. Amann of Columbia; a daughter, Susan A. Gainer of Ellicott City; and two grandchildren.