Jerome W. "Jerry" Geckle, a high school dropout who rose from a keypunch operator to become chairman and chief executive officer of Peterson Howell and Heather, the Hunt Valley fleet leasing and mortgage company, died Oct. 22 of pneumonia at his Parkton farm.
He was 81.
Mr. Geckle, the youngest of nine children, was born in Baltimore and raised in Waverly, where his father was a sextant at St. Bernard Roman Catholic Church and his mother a homemaker.
"As a boy, he had worked on a farm picking vegetables to help make ends meet," said a son, Stephen L. Geckle of Parkton.
Mr. Geckle attended Loyola High School and then dropped out after completing the ninth grade and went to work in the produce department of a local grocery store.
"School held no appeal for him, and he said he'd rather be out working earning money, so he dropped out," his son said.
He was 17 when he enlisted in the Marine Corps in 1946. He later earned his General Educational Development certificate and served as a member of the honor guard at Arlington National Cemetery. "It proved to be a life-changing experience. The Marine Corps gave him the tools that later made him a success in life," his son said.
During his Marine Corps years, Mr. Geckle received computer training, and after being discharged from the service in the early 1950s, went to work as a keypunch operator at International Harvester Co. and later Lever Bros. in Locust Point.
In 1955, Mr. Geckle joined PHH, the Baltimore fleet leasing company that had been established in 1946 by Duane L. Peterson, Harley W. Howell and Richard M. Heather. He was the 80th employee of the company, whose net income earnings for that year were $50,000.
The company's headquarters in 1955 were in what is now the Bank of America building on Light Street, and in 1963 it moved to a new building at Charles and 27th streets. In 1974, it relocated to Hunt Valley.
Mr. Geckle's task when he joined PHH was to implement a data processing system, which for the times was considered a rather exotic technology. In 1962, he was named the department's manager.
He was promoted to vice president and manager of information services in 1969, and a year later, was appointed manager of corporate planning and development.
Mr. Geckle championed diversification from its core fleet leasing business, and in 1971 the company acquired Homequity Inc., a relocation company.
When he was named president of the company in 1974, Mr. Geckle told The Baltimore Sun that "I may be a walnut but happily there are many walnuts at PHH."
Mr. Geckle was citing a piece of wisdom from Mr. Peterson, who contended that the "best executives would sooner or later rise to the top: or, that if you mixed dried peas and walnuts, then shook them up, the walnuts would eventually surface," reported the newspaper.
During his tenure as president, Mr. Geckle led the company through a period of successful growth and development.
When Mr. Geckle retired in 1989, PHH had grown to become a Fortune 500 company that employed 4,300 people worldwide and had a net income of $49.1 million.
"Jerry was the American dream," said Eugene A. "Gene" Arbaugh, who had been PHH's senior vice president, chief marketing officer and corporate secretary.
"He was an excellent businessman and ahead of his time and because of his computer knowledge, put PHH way head of the curve, and he led the process that computerized the entire company," Mr. Arbaugh said. "One of Jerry's trademarks was that he always made notes for his speeches on computer punch cards that he carried in his pocket."
Despite PHH's rising to a Fortune 500 company, Mr. Arbaugh said that Mr. Geckle remained a humble presence.
"He never forgot where he had come from, even though he was a great success story," he said. "Jerry was a friendly man and would have made a great politician because he really knew how to work a room."
"He said that 'ordinary people can do extraordinary things,' and he always told this to people who worked for him," his son said.
"I've known Jerry for over 40 years and he was very important in my career," said Donald P. Hutchinson, who had worked at PHH years ago, and is now president and CEO of the Maryland Zoo in Baltimore.
"My greatest time with him was when he was CEO of PHH and I was Baltimore County executive. Jerry more than anyone in town was the ultimate behind-the-scenes leader," Mr. Hutchinson said.
"He was always in the middle of what the business leaders were doing who always came to him for advice and counsel. He had a hidden importance in this town," Mr. Hutchinson said.
Mr. Hutchinson said that one of Mr. Geckle's enduring qualities was his ability to bring Ivy League-educated business leaders together with blue-collar workers.
"He understood industrial Baltimore, unions and blue-collar workers. Very few can be crossover guys, and Jerry was one of those guys," Mr. Hutchinson said.
Mr. Geckle was also an adviser to Gov. William Donald Schaefer during his administration.
Mr. Geckle was the founding chairman in 1985 of Maryland Economic Growth Associates and had served on the boards of Constellation Energy Group Inc., Crown Central and Allfirst Financial Inc.
Mr. Geckle and his wife, the former Mary Margaret Trageser, whom he married in 1951, endowed the Geckle Diabetic Education Center at Greater Baltimore Medical Center. They also helped establish what is now Stevenson University.
Other philanthropic interests included Mercy Medical Center, Mount Washington Pediatric Hospital, Loyola High School, Maryvale Preparatory School, Notre Dame Preparatory School, the College of Notre Dame of Maryland, and the United Way of Central Maryland.
Mr. Geckle was proud of being given his diploma and made a member of the Class of 1948 at Loyola High School, which had awarded him its prestigious Father Joseph M. Kelly Award, his son said.
In his retirement, Mr. Geckle, who had formerly lived for years in Timonium, moved to a 165-acre farm near Maryland Line, which he named Chase-Waverly Farm, because his wife had been reared on Chase Street and he in Waverly.
"He wanted to get his hands dirty again," his son said of his father, who raised beef cattle and vegetables and enjoyed horseback riding on his farm.
He enjoyed vacationing in Avalon, N.J., and had been a season ticket holder to the Baltimore Colts and Ravens.
When PHH was sold to HFS Inc., Mr. Geckle told The Baltimore Sun that the company's sale would be a "little disappointing" because it "came to life here."
"Along with McCormick, Black & Decker and USF&G, it used to be called one of the pearls of the Chesapeake," Mr. Geckle said.
He was a longtime communicant of Our Lady of Grace Roman Catholic Church in Parkton, where a Mass of Christian burial was offered Wednesday.
In addition to his wife and son, Mr. Geckle is survived by another son, Timothy J. Geckle of Westlake, Calif.; two daughters, Theresa A. Geckle and Karen J. Moritz, both of Parkton; and 11 grandchildren.