Donald D. "Manboy" Savoy Sr., one of the vanishing band of arabbers who spent nearly 70 years bringing fresh produce, fruit and seafood to residents of city neighborhoods, died Tuesday at Stella Maris Hospice of stomach cancer.
The longtime Riggs Avenue resident was 83.
"He enjoyed [arabbing]. It was an art and he had a passion for it," said a son, Donald D. "J.R." Savoy Jr. of East Baltimore. "He got me into it, and I've been doing it for 40 years."
The son of Frank Savoy, an arabber, and Sarah Johnson, a homemaker, Donald Douglas Savoy Sr. was born in Baltimore and raised in Sandtown-Winchester. He attended city public schools.
Mr. Savoy was barely in his teens when he joined his father in arabbing, family members said.
"He started selling coal, and then he moved up to fruit, produce, fish and crabs," said Darius Savoy, a grandson who lives in Baltimore.
The term "a-rab" pronounced "AY-rab," is slang for "street Arab" — a term thought to go back to the 19th-century, describing denizens of the streets with no fixed lodgings or those who sold merchandise on the streets to passersby.
Mr. Savoy embraced the term "arabber" rather than thinking of it as somehow pejorative.
"To me, it's part of African-American heritage," Mr. Savoy told The Baltimore Sun in a 2007 interview. "My father had horses, we kept them in the yard, it's what I've always known."
Mr. Savoy, whose days began at 5 a.m. and routinely ended at 10 p.m., worked six days a week.
"He worked dawn to dusk," said his son. "He'd get up and go to the Camden Market before there was an Inner Harbor, and then he had to go to Pulaski Highway and finally Jessup to get his day's produce."
The elder Mr. Savoy owned 20 ponies, which were trained to pull the colorful red, yellow and black wagons that clip-clopped throughout the city while summoning customers with the tinkling of bells to purchase Eastern Shore cantaloupes, watermelons, Anne Arundel County strawberries and fresh seafood.
Seasonal items such as Christmas trees and greens were added at holiday time.
"Back in the day, he had 10 wagons on the street each day," said his son, who still works part time as an arabber. "He'd have wagons going to West Baltimore, South Baltimore, Edmondson Village, East Baltimore, Harlem Park and Pigtown."
Charlie "The Fruit Man" McLean began working for Mr. Savoy as a helper.
"In 1974, he gave me my first team and wagon and told me to go and sell the hell out of it — and I did. He was a businessman, a good man and a fair fellow. He gave me my shot," said Mr. McLean, who lives in Baltimore and still works part time as an arabber.
"I'd go to Walbrook Junction, Edmondson Village and Southwest Baltimore," he said. "I'd go different places on different days because basically the city is one big circle. I sold vegetables, fruit and seafood."
Mr. Savoy "was very kind and bought cat and dog food, which he fed to the strays — so he couldn't have been all that bad," Mr. McLean said with a laugh.
Roland L. Freeman, author of "The Arabbers of Baltimore," wrote that "two of the West Side's most popular arabbers" were Mr. Savoy and another son, Anthony "Frog" Savoy, who also lives in Baltimore.
Mr. Savoy was recognizable for his snap-brim caps, snow-white mustache, side whiskers and aviator-style glasses.
In 2007, the city condemned a decaying stable in the 1900 block of Retreat Street that Mr. Savoy operated and where his ponies were billeted. His ponies and others that occupied the stable were moved to temporary stables at Pimlico Race Course.
Eventually, the ponies took up residence at stables either in Carlton Street in Southwest Baltimore or at North Fremont and Pitcher Street in Penn-North, where Mr. Savoy's sons Donald and Anthony, along with grandson James "Fruit" Chase and great-grandson Ahmad Chase, help operate the place.
The elder Mr. Savoy retired in 2013.
He was a member of the Jerusalem Soul Seekers Baptist Church.
Mr. Savoy's wife of 58 years, the former Viola Mae Miller, died in 2008.
Plans for funeral services are incomplete.
In addition to his two sons, grandson and great-grandson, Mr. Savoy is survived by four daughters, Catherine Brown, Deborah Holton, Betty Ann Wyatt and Edwine Blackwell, all of Baltimore; 20 other grandchildren; 42 other great-grandchildren; and seven great-great-grandchildren. He was preceded in death by two other daughters, Paulette Savoy, who died in 1982, and Pamela Savoy Fulton, who died in 2014.