George L. Good Sr.
Former executive for Maryland Cup Corp. who lived in Lutherville was passionate about music and sailing
George L. Good Sr., a former Maryland Cup Corp. executive who later owned and operated a pallet company and was passionate about music and sailing, died July 9 in his sleep at Greater Baltimore Medical Center. The Lutherville resident was 79.
George Lory Good Sr., who was the son of Fred Good, a mechanical engineer who was a Baltimore County inspector, and his wife, Georgiana Sweeney, a Bendix Corp. cafeteria worker, was born in Baltimore and raised on Normal Terrace in West Towson.
A 1957 graduate of Towson High School, Mr. Good attended Mount Union College in Alliance, Ohio, and Washington University in St. Louis, and earned his bachelor’s degree in 1961 from the University of Maryland, College Park. He did graduate work at Maryland and Kent State University and studied writing at Johns Hopkins.
As a Navy lieutenant, Mr. Good served as a supply officer aboard the USS Remey and USS Robert L. Wilson, both destroyers, and at the Naval Weapons Station in Yorktown, Virginia, from 1962 until being discharged in 1965.
Mr. Good then went to work for Timken Roller Bearing Co. in Canton, Ohio, but returned to the area in 1968 when he took a position at Maryland Cup Corp.’s Sweetheart Cup in Owings Mills, where he rose to national sales administrator and finally to director of the straw division.
In 1983, he joined Roper Eastern Corp. as head of its ceiling grid division, which he eventually purchased and moved to Sparrows Point, renaming it Eastern Products Corp. Inc. He eventually sold the business and acquired Frank’s Pallet Service in 1988, and operated the Rosedale company with a son, George L. Good Jr., of Towson, until retiring in 2006.
Mr. Good had two interests that came to define his life: music and sailing.
“He loved music in general and loved the people at the Baltimore Choral Arts Society and wanted to get involved by serving on the board, helping with fundraising and scheduling,” said another son, Aubrey K. Good, of Ruxton, who said the only instrument his father played was the harmonica.
“He was self-taught and never studied,” he said, with a laugh.
“He was just terrific and a smart-as-awhip kind of guy,” said Tom Hall, former director of the Choral Arts Society who is now host of WYPR’s “Midday.”
”George loved music and it was a special part of his life. He was also a very sophisticated listener and a wonderful patron,” Mr. Hall said. “Music lit him up and it bound us together. He was the kind of listener who when he was at a concert, you could see it in his face.”
Mr. Good joined the Choral Arts board in 1993 and remained there until 2016, when he stepped down. He also served as board president from 1995 to 1999.
“He was very passionate about his work with the board, and was always very supportive, but could be opinionated. If he didn’t like something we did, he’d let fly, and I appreciated that,” said Mr. Hall, with a laugh.
Mr. Hall described Mr. Good as being “a calming presence.”
“When we were expanding, we had good years and bad, and it was good having George with all of his experience at the helm,” Mr. Hall said. “One day when the history of Choral Arts is written, he’ll be a prominent part of it.”
Mr. Good was 14 when he purchased his first sailboat, and for decades cruised and raced the bay extensively. He shared his enthusiasm for sailing with his family and when his three children were growing up, weekends were spent sailing on Middle River and the Chesapeake Bay.
Through the years, he owned Taylor Made, Andale, Stringer and Jack Iron boats and enjoyed participating in regattas throughout tidewater Maryland, including the Governor’s Cup and St. Michaels races, Leukemia Cup and many Oxford races.
He was also a regular participant with his son Aubrey in the weekly Tuesday Night Races in the Inner Harbor with the Baltimore City Yacht Association, of which he was a member.
Mr. Good also raced with the Glenmar Sailing Association, and was a member of the Baltimore Yacht Club and Eastport Yacht Club.
Annually, Mr. Good and six friends affectionately known with him as the “Seven Dwarfs” would sail in Caribbean waters for a week.
When he gave up sailboats several years ago, he purchased a 28-foot Legacy powerboat that he named Iron Genny after the auxiliary engine found in sailboats.
Mr. Good and his wife of 57 years, the former Helen Marie “Susie” Guzzo, had lived for almost 50 years on Yorktown Drive in Towson before moving two years ago to The Meadows in Lutherville.
The couple, who were known for their lavish Christmas decorations that won several neighborhood association awards and for their Christmas Eve parties, liked entertaining family and friends at parties throughout the year.
Mr. Good enjoyed writing fiction, short stories and poetry, and family members said his correspondence, both business and personal, reflected both his dry wit and sarcasm.
He was 16 when he began attending Towson Presbyterian Church, and over the years he had served as a deacon, elder and trustee. He had served as a member of the Pastor Search Committee and Organ Restoration Committee.
Mr. Good was a daily reader of the Bible, family members said.
A memorial service will be held at 1 p.m. Aug. 3 at his church at 400 W. Chesapeake Ave. in Towson.
In addition to his wife and two sons, Mr. Good is survived by a daughter, Alexandra K. Faust, of Princeton, New Jersey, and six grandchildren.