Vito "Doc" Tinelli Jr., a longtime Chestertown pharmacist, died May 23 of an acute coronary embolism at the Chester River Hospital Center in Chestertown. He was 77.
The son of a Bethlehem Steel Corp. steelworker and a homemaker, Mr. Tinelli was born in Baltimore and raised in Dundalk, where he graduated in 1952 from Dundalk High School.
He attended Kansas State University and earned his pharmacy degree in 1960 from the University of Maryland School of Pharmacy.
After graduating from Maryland, Mr. Tinelli moved to Chestertown, where he joined his brother-in-law, Alphonse Poklis, also a druggist, at the Chestertown Pharmacy.
Mr. Tinelli, who had not retired at his death, had owned and operated the High Street pharmacy for the past 46 years.
A Democrat, Mr. Tinelli had served four terms on the Chestertown Town Council. He was also a member of the Frank M. Jarman American Legion Post 36.
He was a communicant of Sacred Heart Roman Catholic Church in Chestertown, where a Mass of Christian burial was offered Friday.
Surviving are his wife of 51 years, the former Mary Ellen Shirley; five sons, Vito Tinelli III and Andrew Tinelli, both of Centreville, Michael Tinelli of Ocean City, Joseph Tinelli of Chestertown and Geoffrey Tinelli of Woodbine; two daughters, Christine Dey of Pensacola, Fla., and Felicia Mayes of Centreville; a sister, Julia Rose of Timonium; and 12 grandchildren.