Arnold Vincent Preston, a former partner of Baker, Watts & Co. who later founded his own investment firm, died Monday of cancer at his Brooklandville home. He was 84.
Mr. Preston, the son of an engineer and a homemaker, was born in Baltimore and raised in Ellicott City.
A talented athlete, Mr. Preston was a member of the Maryland All-Star Football Team in 1944 and was a two-time All-Maryland tackle while a student at Calvert Hall College High School.
After graduating from Calvert Hall in 1945, he began his college studies at Bucknell University. From 1947 to 1950, he served in the Army as a corporal with the military police, and he was assigned to Gen. Douglas MacArthur's detail in the Philippines and later Korea.
After being discharged in 1950, Mr. Preston returned to Bucknell, where he was named a Collegiate All-American in football and earned a bachelor's degree in 1951 in finance.
Mr. Preston was drafted by the Green Bay Packers, but an automobile accident before training camp that injured his face brought an end to his professional football ambitions.
From 1954 to 1968, when he joined Baker, Watts & Co. as an account executive, Mr. Preston was a sales representative for National Cash Register Co.
In 1972, Mr. Preston was promoted to partner at Baker, Watts and remained in that position until 1988, when he left and established Calvert Investment Counsel in Cross Keys. At the time of his retirement last year, he was a managing partner of the firm.
"He loved investment counseling, and he loved his work. That was his hobby," said his daughter, Donna Preston Sturtz of Sparks.
Mr. Preston, a former Cross Keys resident who had lived in Brooklandville since the late 1970s, was a former member of the Center Club and a member of the Baltimore Country Club. He enjoyed golfing.
Services are private.
Also surviving are his wife of 51 years, the former Marilyn Burke; a son, A. Scott Preston of Lutherville; and five grandchildren.