Timothy M. Rodgers, president and owner of Hill & Co. Realtors and a fixture on the Baltimore real estate scene for decades, died June 8 from melanoma at Johns Hopkins Hospital.
A resident of the Charlesbrooke neighborhood of Baltimore County, Mr. Rodgers was 70.
"Tim was a terrific mentor to me, a leader, a great friend and the consummate professional," said Jake Boone, who has worked as a broker for Hill & Co. for 39 years.
"He was highly regarded and well thought of in the Baltimore real estate community. He was a true gentleman through and through and will be sorely missed," Mr. Boone said.
"I think Tim was one of the most wonderful friends I ever had," said Richard E. "Dick" Gatchell, a longtime Hill & Co. broker who retired in 2013. "He was supportive, always gave of himself and was always there to help."
"Three things come to mind when I think of Tim, who is one of my oldest friends," said Tom Willard, who knew Mr. Rodgers for more than 30 years. "He built one of the premier real estate firms in Baltimore. He was a family man whose focus was always on his family, and he was an integral part of the community who was known far and wide.
"He had a great sense of humor and was quick to laugh. He was always generous as a friend and was always thinking of others. These are qualities that one values," Mr. Willard said.
The son of Patrick Alexius Rodgers, vice president of Cloverland Dairy, and Geraldine Hardy "Gigi" Rodgers, an elementary school educator, Timothy Michael Rodgers was born in Baltimore and raised in a home at Allegheny and Bosley avenues in Towson.
He attended Calvert Hall College High School and graduated in 1965 from Towson High School. He attended Loyola College and Towson University.
Family members said Mr. Rodgers' strong work ethic began at a young age when he delivered newspapers and established a lawn-cutting business.
After graduating from high school, he worked at the old Towson Stationers on West Chesapeake Avenue.
In 1972, Mr. Rodgers purchased Bel Air Office Supply in Bel Air, which he owned and operated for nine years before selling the business and earning his real estate license in 1981.
Mr. Rodgers met his future wife, Mary Stuart Knott, at a party in 1973, and married her the next year.
"Three days after he bought the office supply business, the building burned down. He rebuilt the business and building, and finally he had enough of the stationery business and got his real estate license," Mrs. Rodgers said.
Mr. Rodgers was working in real estate sales in the Greenspring office of O'Conor Piper & Flynn when he purchased Hill & Co. from Mr. Gatchell and his partner Richard J. "Dick" Roszell III in 1985.
"We would never have sold to anyone else but Tim," said Mr. Gatchell. "That's how much we thought of him."
Mrs. Rodgers remembered when he bought the firm: "I had literally just delivered our fifth child when Tim walked into the hospital and said, 'I just bought Hill & Co.' I had no idea he was going to do that."
"He did that another time when he called me at the pool to tell me he had bought a house on Greenspring Avenue, and I said, 'You mean that house I really didn't want?'" she said.
Mr. Boone said Mr. Rodgers had a quick wit. "He was also very creative in the way he put deals together," he said. "It's an exciting profession. He was a people person and he enjoyed interacting in order to make the deal happen."
Mr. Rodgers, whose firm mainly represented homes and estates in North Baltimore, did not believe in buying a home at an auction.
"You take it as it is," Mr. Rodgers told The Baltimore Sun in a 2005 interview. "I wouldn't buy a house without a home inspection."
Quite a fashion plate and always fastidiously dressed, Mr. Rodgers enjoyed chauffeuring potential buyers in his car to properties for showings.
"He was certainly a true gentleman Realtor and was always quite dapper in his dress," said Carol Schmidt Haigh, president of Baltimore real estate firm Chase Fitzgerald & Co. "He loved his family, business and agents and had a really good balance between all three."
Mr. Rodgers had a reputation of being easy to work with.
"Tim had integrity and you knew where you stood with him in a deal. You trusted him," Ms. Haigh said. "And because he was so trustworthy, deals went smoother."
He had served as a member of the Maryland Province of the Society of Jesus Financial Advisory Board. Other board memberships included the Baltimore County Landmarks Preservation Trust and Baltimore Heritage.
Mr. Rodgers liked teaching his six children about the importance of working hard, saving money and understanding the enduring value of kindness, family members said.
An avid gardener, he enjoyed working in the garden of his former Stevenson home, and later at homes in Charlesbrooke and Rehoboth Beach, Del. He also enjoyed spending time at another home in Naples, Fla.
Mr. Rodgers was a member of the Maryland Club and Green Spring Valley Hunt Club.
He was a communicant of Immaculate Conception Roman Catholic Church at Baltimore and Ware avenues in Towson, where a Mass of Christian burial will be offered at 10 a.m. Saturday.
In addition to his wife, Mr. Rodgers is survived by two sons, Timothy Michael Rodgers Jr. of Hoboken, N.J., and Patrick Alexius Rodgers II of Charlesbrooke; four daughters, Emily Stuart Rodgers of Chicago, Elizabeth Rodgers Hawtin of London, Sarah Rodgers Atwood of Kentfield, Calif., and Isabel Calvert Rodgers of New York City; a brother, John D. "Jack" Rodgers of Lutherville; three sisters, Sally Glorioso of Rodgers Forge, Mary Pat Pfeifer of Lutherville and Frances "Frannie" Judkins of Charlesbrooke; and 14 grandchildren.