Robert William Armacost, who staged antiques shows in Hunt Valley and Annapolis and was a former Baltimore public schools deputy superintendent, died of an apparent heart attack Feb. 14 at his Roland Park home. He was 74.
Born in Baltimore and raised in Woodlawn, he was the son of physician Joshua Armacost. He was a 1955 graduate of Milford Mill High School and earned a degree at Dickinson College in Carlisle, Pa. He was an active alumnus and donor.
He taught at Essex Elementary School and later taught English at Lansdowne High School. He was director of the human communications information center at a department in the Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine.
"He was well-organized and had good taste," said a friend, George F. Johnson of Rehoboth Beach, Del.
Mr. Armacost joined the Baltimore city public schools, where he was deputy superintendent and oversaw school testing during the 1970s.
In the 1980s, he operated a Howard Street antiques business, Armacost-Dorsey.
He purchased the old Peggy Stuart Antiques Shows about 30 years ago and became the owner of Armacost Antiques Shows Ltd. He then managed and promoted the Annapolis Heritage Antiques Show, as well as sales exhibits at Hunt Valley and Alexandria, Va., and the Brandywine Museum Show in Chadds Ford, Pa. Over the years, he organized antiques shows from Naples, Fla., to New England.
He enjoyed theater and traveling to Italy for opera performances. He was also a gardener and enjoyed entertaining.
Plans for a memorial service are incomplete.
He is survived by a brother, David L. Armacost of Baltimore. His life partner of many years, Baltimore Sun writer John R. Dorsey, died in 2008.