Edwin A. Oliver Jr.
The unofficial ‘Mayor of South Baltimore’ and an opera patron was a regular at the Cross Street Market
Edwin A. Oliver, Jr. enjoyed watering holes as much as the next adult, but not for the obvious reasons.
“He used to say that the bar was the best invention because it was a way to meet people,” said his niece, Karen Brahos. “He wasn’t a big drinker, but he loved meeting people.”
Mr. Oliver, a Baltimore native who grew to be known as the unofficial “Mayor of South Baltimore” and a patron of the opera, died last Thursday at Dulaney Valley Assisted Living in Hunt Valley due to heart failure. He was 93.
Friends and family said the Cross Street Market — where Mr. Oliver was a seemingly constant presence — and the Federal Hill community will miss Mr. Oliver.
“He was just a welcoming constant presence that you looked forward to,” said friend James McPartland, who had known Mr. Oliver for more than 25 years. “On the weekends, a bunch of us would gather at Nick’s [Inner Harbor Seafood before it closed in January 2019] for oysters and beer — unless there was opera because then he wouldn’t show up. But he was just a presence of joy and life.”
Mr. Oliver was the eldest of six children born to Edwin Oliver Sr. and Ethel Duley. The family grew up in Baltimore, and Mr. Oliver was introduced to the opera by his best friend and his mother.
“He said that in his head, he wasn’t sure if would like it,” Mrs. Brahos said from her home in Fallston. “But when he got there and the lights went down and everything started, it just opened up a whole new world for him, and he absolutely fell in love with it.”
Mr. Oliver graduated from Baltimore Polytechnic Institute in 1944 and promptly served with the Navy, where he was stationed in San Diego from April 5, 1945, to Aug. 5, 1946, before he was honorably discharged.
In 1949, Mr. Oliver applied and earned a job as a sales representative for Continental Can, a company that produced metal containers and packaging for breweries and soda manufacturers. Heworked 37 years for Continental Can and was grateful for the employment, but he joked that he was smitten on the day he was invited by a company executive to interview at a local restaurant.
“He said the interview was the best day of his life because it was the first time he ate in a restaurant, and even if he didn’t get the job, it was the best day of his life,” Mrs. Brahos said.
After he retired in 1986, Mr. Oliver — who never married — moved from Oaklee Village to Federal Hill where he quickly became a favorite among residents and newcomers for his friendly nature and welcoming attitude.
Charles Vascellaro said he had moved from Arizona to Annapolis in December 1998 and was taken to the Cross Street Market in1999 to get a feel for Baltimore. He recalled backing up to take a photo of a plate of oysters and a quart-sized glass of beer with a 35-millimeter camera when Mr. Oliver gave him some advice.
“He said, ‘No, no. That’s not how you do it. Everybody thinks they’ve got to get everything in the picture. It’ll be a better picture if you get right up on it! Don’t worry about the borders,’” Mr. Vascellaro said. “And I’ll never forget that because every time I’ve looked through a camera lens, I’ve always heard Ed’s words ringing in my ears. ‘Get right up on it!’ And all of my pictures were better, they were more focused, and I was actually seeing what I was looking at because I didn’t have to squeeze everything into the four corners. That is a metaphor for Ed’s whole approach to life, to get right up on it, to get in there, and don’t be afraid. He was the most effervescent and positivethinking guy. He was full of joy for every minute that you saw him. He had an ear-to-ear grin. He just always seemed to be enjoying himself so much.”
Mr. McPartland said Mr. Oliver had a practice of buying a single red rose and giving it to any first-time female shoppers at the Cross Street Market.
“He did this all the time,” Mr. McPartland said, adding that Mr. Oliver did that for Mr. McPartland’s sister, Rosemary Konatich, when she visited from New York. “It was just a friendly gesture of, ‘Welcome to the Cross Street Market. Enjoy it.’”
Mrs. Brahos said she remembered walking through Federal Hill with her uncle several years ago and being stunned by how many motorists stopped their vehicles to wish him a happy birthday.
“He was one of those people that would have given you the shirt off his back and would have done anything for anybody,” she said. “But he was very humble. He didn’t like attention. He didn’t want to be the center of attention. He wanted to make you feel special. That was his gift.”
Mr. McPartland said Mr. Oliver’s volunteer job in the ticket office for the Baltimore Opera Company offered him an opportunity to watch performances and then recruit more patrons through family and friends.
“He would get free tickets for dress rehearsals or presentations, and he would lean on people to give opera a try,” Mr. McPartland said. “And these were truck drivers and people that would never go on their own. He introduced me to the opera, and I became a big fan of it myself over the years. He was constantly telling people about what a wonderful experience it was.”
Mrs. Brahos said her uncle sometime in his 20s drove to New York and stood in line to buy a ticket to watch his first opera in the city. When he got to the front of the queue, he was informed that tickets were sold out. But Mr. Oliver refused to leave until he got a ticket, and the opera company put 100 chairs on the backstage for Mr. Oliver and others behind him.
“I think it was $1.50,” Mrs. Brahos said. “He carried that ticket everywhere. It was in his wallet, and it was basically a purplish-red little square and there was nothing you could read on it. Trust me, because I wanted to know. I took that and I taped it into the inside of a little prayer book that he will have in his hands because I always promised him that it would go with him.”
Mrs. Brahos said her uncle was so enchanted by a short jaunt to Puerto Rico after a business trip to Florida that he visited the U.S. territory every December. Mr. Oliver got the surprise of his life, however, when a few friends took him for a one-week stay in Paris. He returned with a chocolate bar, but never ate it, keeping it unopened in his refrigerator.
“He said every time he opened up the fridge, it reminded him of the wonderful time that he had, and that’s why he never ate it,” Mrs. Brahos said.
A funeral Mass for Mr. Oliver was Wednesday at Our Lady of Victory Catholic Church in Baltimore. Mr. Oliver will be buried at Loudon Park Cemetery in Baltimore.
In addition to his niece, Mr. Oliver is survived by one brother-in-law, David Schneider of Hunt Valley, and numerous nieces and nephews.