Paul M. Long Sr., who had been middle school head at St. Paul's School and later became headmaster and savior of the Eastern Shore's Gunston School, died Dec. 10 at the Johns Hopkins Hospital of pneumonia.
He was 91.
"He very much cared about Gunston School and particularly the students. He was interested in their welfare, and it was of a size that he got to know them rather well," said retired Queen Anne's County Circuit Judge John W. Sause Jr., a longtime close friend. " 'Loquacious' is a good word to describe him."
The son of Howard Marshall Long, an admiralty lawyer, and Maude Tunnel Long, a homemaker, Paul Marshall Long Sr. was born and raised in Philadelphia.
After graduating in 1942 from the Episcopal Academy in Philadelphia, he briefly attended the Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania before enlisting in the Navy that year.
He served in the Pacific as a signalman second class and participated in the Battle of Okinawa.
After being discharged in 1946, he returned to Penn, from which he earned a bachelor's degree in 1948. He later earned a master's degree in education from what is now McDaniel College.
From 1948 to 1950, Mr. Long was a teacher and athletic director at St. Paul's School, which in those days was on West Rogers Avenue in Mount Washington.
He left St. Paul's in 1951 when he was named an operations officer with the Central Intelligence Agency. He returned to the school in 1954, which had relocated two years earlier to its present Brooklandville campus, and served as head of its middle school.
In 1967, he left St. Paul's when he was named headmaster of the Gunston School in Centreville, a position he held until retiring in 1986.
At the time Mr. Long took over as headmaster at Gunston, the state was threatening to revoke the license of the school, which had been established in 1911. He was successful in persuading the state to allow Gunston operate for another year.
"And through the force of his personality and leadership, he not only kept Gunston from closing, but he oversaw the school's full and continued accreditation, and he brought the school through 20 years of significant and sustained growth and development," wrote John A. Lewis IV, the school's current headmaster, in a note announcing Mr. Long's death to the Gunston community.
Not only did Mr. Long's expertise result in raising the school's academic reputation, it also extended to the look of its campus. Dormitories and a dining hall in the Brick Building were expanded. The Blackwood-Duffey Library and Auditorium, which is now the Fine Arts Center, was added.
In 1971, Gunston opened the Academic Building, which was named in Mr. Long's honor. The school also established the Paul Long Award, which Mr. Long enjoyed presenting annually to the school's most outstanding 11th-grader.
Mr. Long also had the reputation of being a disciplinarian.
"He was 'Mr. Disciplinarian.' He was 'Mr. Long,'" said a son, John Denwood Long of Lutherville.
"He never had an unspoken thought and was a highly principled man," said Judge Sause. "If someone did something wrong — friend or foe — they'd hear about it."
Charley Mitchell, who is now alumni director at St. Paul's and a middle school coach, was a new sixth-grader when he engendered Mr. Long's wrath. He had been bouncing a lacrosse ball against a wall before classes began.
"It bounced and went right through the window of Miss Talbott's fifth-grade classroom," recalled Mr. Mitchell, who is also an author and historian.
He was in the middle of his first class when he was suddenly summoned to Mr. Long's office.
"I thought my life was over. He commanded a great deal of respect," recalled Mr. Mitchell with a laugh. "Mr. Long started yelling at me and was speaking to me in a very stern and strict manner about what I had done. And then he asked me if I knew I wasn't supposed to be playing ball down there."
Mr. Mitchell replied he was unaware of any such rule.
"He told me, 'You know you're going to pay for that window,' " said Mr. Mitchell. "And I never heard any more about it from him."
"Paul had mellowed over the years, but he was still a forceful and colorful personality," said Mr. Lewis. "He was both feared and beloved by the girls because he had high expectations for them. He had them for himself and others."
During his tenure at Gunston, the Eastern Shore school received certification from the state of Maryland and the Middle States Association of College sand Schools. It also became a member of the National Association of Independent Schools and the Association of Independent Maryland Schools.
Mr. Long also served one year as the interim headmaster of the Ravenscroft School in Raleigh, N.C.
He served on the boards of the Kent School in Chestertown, National Association of Secondary School Principals, Headmasters of the East, and National Association of Principals of Schools for Girls.
Mr. Long was chairman of the Queen Anne's County Steering Committee, Queen Anne's Days in 1977, and the Queen Anne's County Bicentennial Commission.
He also was a volunteer fundraiser for Johns Hopkins Hospital, where he served on fundraising boards and committees. Additionally, he was a life member of the Chesapeake Bay Maritime Museum in St. Michaels and served on its board.
The Centreville resident enjoyed sailing and golfing. He was a member of the Corsica River Yacht Club and the Talbot Country Club.
Mr. Long was a communicant and a vestryman at St. Paul's Episcopal Church in Centreville.
A memorial service for Mr. Long will be held at 11 a.m. Dec. 27 at St. Peter's Episcopal Church, 211 Mulberry St., Lewes, Del.
In addition to his son, Mr. Long is survived by his wife of 65 years, the former Mary Dixon Ashley; another son, Paul Marshall Long Jr. of Centreville; a daughter, Margaret Ashley Long Vincent of Wayne, Pa.; six grandchildren; and two great-grandchildren.