Henry W. ‘Harry’ Loock Jr.
World War II and Korean War veteran who later was candy distributing company executive, loved sports, golf
Henry W. “Harry” Loock Jr., a veteran of World War II and the Korean War who was later a candy distributing company executive, died May 2 at the University of Maryland St. Joseph Medical Center of complications from a fall. The longtime Timonium resident was 94.
Mr. Loock was the son of Henry W. Loock Sr., president of Allen Son & Co., a wholesale candy distributor, and Mae Scriba Loock, a homemaker. Mr. Loock was born in Baltimore and raised on Holmehurst Avenue in Catonsville.
He was a 1944 graduate of Catonsville High School, where he played varsity baseball and soccer. His college studies at Gettysburg College were interrupted when he was drafted into the Army in 1945. He served for a year with the occupation forces in the Pacific theater and, after being discharged, resumed his studies at Gettysburg.
After earning a bachelor’s degree in economics in 1949, he married the former Lenore “Lennie” Hoffman, whom he had met when he was studying at Gettysburg; she was a student at what was then Western Maryland College, now McDaniel College, that same year.
Mr. Loock was recalled to active duty in 1951 as an officer. After training troops at Fort Knox in Kentucky, he was sent overseas, where he saw combat in Korea as an infantry platoon leader with the 7th Division.
When he was in 1952, Mr. Loock’s decorations included the Combat Infantry Badge and the Korean Service Medal with two Bronze Stars.
Mr. Loock started his career in 1949 in the wholesale candy distribution business when he went to work for his father, who was president of Allen Son & Co., located on South Warwick Avenue in Southwest Baltimore. The father earlier was associated with McDowell, Pyle & Co. Inc., another candy wholesaler.
The younger Mr. Loock learned all aspects of the business as he rose through the ranks, starting as an order filler then a delivery driver. He eventually rose to warehouse manager and sales manager before being named company president in 1962.
“During the 1950s and 1960s, they represented Hershey chocolates, Mars candy, M&M’s and Goetze’s Candy Company Inc., the Baltimore candy company that makes their famous caramels, Mary Sue Easter eggs and a lot of other Baltimore candy products, which they delivered to movie theaters, stores and corner candy stores,” said his son, Douglas H. Loock, of Bethesda.
When Allen Son & Co. closed in 1975, he accepted a position as candy department manager at F.A. Davis & Son Inc., a candy and tobacco wholesaler. He retired in 1993. Mr. Loock’s father was a founder of the National Candy Wholesalers in 1946 and was its first president, in addition to being president of the Maryland Wholesale Confectioners Association. He was inducted into the National Candy Hall of Fame in 1985.
Mr. Loock was on the Admiral Builders Savings and Loan Association board for two decades and the Carteret Bank advisory board for three years.
An inveterate sports fan, Mr. Loock supported the old Baltimore Colts and attended the famous 1958 NFL championship game — which many consider the greatest pro football game ever played — between the Colts and New York Giants at the old Yankee Stadium.
Mr. Loock was also a fan of the Orioles and the Ravens.
“He went to at least one World Series game in 1966, 1969, 1970, 1971 and 1979,” his son said.
A golfer, Mr. Loock was a longtime member of Hillendale Country Club in Phoenix in Baltimore County, where he recorded a hole-in-one. He also was a member of Hunt Valley Golf Club.
He and his wife, who died in 2012, were world travelers and toured the U.S. extensively.
He was a member of Timonium United Methodist Church and American Legion Post 183.
Services for Mr. Loock were private. In addition to his son, he is survived by two daughters, Linda L. Schmidt and Susan C. Zuidema, both of Mays Chapel; seven grandchildren; and 13 great-grandchildren.