Harry Charles Weiskittel III, a retired nurseryman and a veteran of the Army

Harry C. Weiskittel III, a retired

Middle River nurseryman and

Army veteran, died May 5 of Alzheimer’s disease at Ellicott City Healthcare Center. He was 77.

Harry Charles Weiskittel III, who was the son of Harry C. Weiskittel Jr., a businessman, and his wife, Anne Harris Weiskittel, a Peabody Institute and Johns Hopkins University graduate, was born in Baltimore and raised on Warrenton Road in Guilford.

His paternal grandfather and namesake emigrated from Germany to Baltimore in 1850 and established the Harry C. Weiskittel Co., an iron foundry and stove manufacturer. Mr. Weiskittel’s father owned and operated the business until his death in 1959.

Mr. Weiskittel was a Calvert School graduate and graduated from Gilman School in 1960. He earned a bachelor’s degree in 1964 from the University of Maryland, College Park and his law degree in 1974 from the University of Baltimore.

Mr. Weiskittel served in the Army as a counterintelligence officer in Berlin from 1966 to 1969.

He originally planned to enlist in the Navy and pursue aviation but after taking one flying lesson at Martin State Airport came home and enlisted in the Army, family members said.

As a distraction from his law studies, Mr. Weiskittel began hybridizing plants on a home pingpong table.

Rather than practice law, which he never did, Mr. Weiskittel established Marshy Point Nursery on the family’s historic hunting property on Marshy Point Road in Middle River.

He operated the business, which specialized in azaleas, hydrangeas and rhododendrons, until retiring in 2006.

The nursery business is now being run by his son.

As a member of the American Rhododendron Society, Mr. Weiskittel was a popular and much sought-after speaker at garden centers. He also had been recognized by the Royal Horticultural Society.

He moved to Naples, Florida, after retiring, and in 2017 moved to Miller’s Grant in Ellicott City.

A lover of classical music, he was a longtime subscriber to the Baltimore Symphony Orchestra.

A private memorial service will be held Thursday.

He is survived by his wife of 25 years, the former Carol Christopher Maus; his son, Austin M. Weiskittel, of Towson; a daughter, Katharine M. Weiskittel, of Ruxton; two stepsons, Christopher Maus, of Ellicott City, and Andrew Maus, of Federal Hill; a stepdaughter, Shelley Maus Cooke, of Arlington, Virginia; a sister, Anne Weiskittel Reinhoff, of Ruxton; and three grandchildren. An earlier marriage to the former Lynn Jaeger ended in divorce.