Obituary
Winslow Harrison Parker, Jr. (known as “Jay”), a retired Baltimore businessman, died peacefully, surrounded by his family at his home in Denver, CO, of complications from Parkinson’s Disease. He was 80.
Born in Baltimore and named for his father, he was raised in Reisterstown, Maryland. He was the son of Dorothy Girdwood Parker and Winslow H. Parker, Sr.
Mr. Parker was a 1959 McDonogh School graduate and earned a degree in English literature from Brown University.
In 1963, he joined Parker Metal Decorating Company, a metal lithography and can-making business founded by his grandfather Edwin Augustus Parker in 1919. He took over from his father as president of the company in 1970, and subsequently opened an additional plant in Baltimore county, as well as one in Santo Domingo, Dominican Republic, to manufacture countless printed metal products, from oyster cans to rum bottle caps. Baltimore was a major center for canning and “tinprinters” throughout the 20th century, and Parker Metal Decorating Company thrived well past the demise of larger metal decorating businesses in the city. This is credited to Mr. Parker’s development of the intrinsic strengths of a small-scale operation; he continually found new markets and adapted technology to new uses. What he most valued as a businessman, however, was providing livelihoods to 150 employees. The original Parker Metal plant is now the last structure standing of the city’s early 20th century printing businesses, and has been listed on the National Register of Historic Places.
Throughout his life, Mr. Parker was deeply committed to his community. In Baltimore, he served for many years on the boards of the Bryn Mawr School, Harbor Hospital, the Cathedral of the Incarnation, and the Alumni Board of McDonogh School. He later served on the board of the United Way of the Eastern Shore of Maryland. He gave generously to these and other causes in Baltimore, and supported scholarships at the Peabody Institute, Johns Hopkins University, and Towson University.
In later years, he lived for 13 years on the Eastern Shore of Maryland, where he and his wife opened a bed and breakfast in an 1854 house in the town of Princess Anne. He also served as the executive director of the Lower Eastern Shore Heritage Council, town manager, and was elected as a town commissioner. He brought about the creation of a park and a youth community center in the historic town, and he particularly savored his part in the successful campaign by Eastern Shore civic leaders to convince the Maryland state legislature to adopt the Smith Island Cake as the official state dessert.
Mr. Parker was a life-long musician. He began as a percussionist, playing drums as a teenager in a small band and in the marching band at McDonough School, and later playing the organ at Brown University and managing the Brown Community Orchestra. Always a talented pianist, he raised his daughters on a steady diet of classical, jazz, and American standards.
More than anything else, Mr. Parker was known for his kindness, generosity, and storytelling. He loved meeting new people, which not only served him well in business, but, his daughters said, “made his life – and ours – so much richer.” Wherever he went, whether on the streets of South Baltimore or in cities around the world, he would strike up conversations with strangers – who soon became friends.
He moved to Denver in 2015 after his diagnosis of Parkinson’s Disease, to be closer to two of his daughters and their families.
Survivors include his wife of 54 years, Deborah Scheidt Parker, of Denver, CO; three daughters, Alexandra Parker of New York City, and Dr. Antigone Parker Parrish, and Zoë Parker Smith, both of Denver; three sons-in-law, Marwan A. Khuri, Dr. Jeffrey Parrish, and W. Arthur Smith; and six grand-children, Annika Parrish, Andraos Khuri, Sophie Smith, Shanna Khuri, Adelaide Parrish, and Parker Smith.
In lieu of flowers, the family requests that memorial donations in his name be made to the following charities.
Parkinson Association of the Rockies
1325 S. Colorado Blvd, Suite 204B, Denver CO 80222
parkinsonrockies.org/get-involved/donate/
St. John’s Cathedral of the Wilderness
1350 N. Washington Street, Denver, CO 80203
sjcathedral.org/give/
The Bryn Mawr School
109 West Melrose Avenue, Baltimore, MD 21210
www.brynmawrschool.org/giving/giving
St. Andrew’s Episcopal Church, Somerset Parish
30513 Washington Street, Princess Anne, MD 21853
www.saintandrewsomersetparish.com/
Published by Horan & McConaty – South Denver on Jan. 29, 2022.
