Timothy W. Edlund
Former Morgan State University business professor and avid sailor, 92, ‘could really warm up a room’
Timothy W. Edlund — a former professor of strategic management at Morgan State University Graves School of Business and Management who was a devoted member of the Episcopal Cathedral of the Incarnation and an avid sailor — died from complications of dementia on Dec. 13 at FutureCare Lochearn in Baltimore. The Homewood resident was 92.
“Tim Edlund had a warmhearted love for people and he could really warm up a room,” said the Very Rev. Rob Boulter, dean of the Episcopal Cathedral of the Incarnation. “He was also a curious person who always wanted to share his ideas.”
Marjorie G. Adams, professor of organizational behavior, human resources and leadership development at Morgan, was a longtime colleague and friend.
“First let me say, and this is overarching, that Tim Edlund was a nice guy and a very nice man,” Ms. Adams said. “I never heard Tim raise his voice, and if he disagreed, he was never disagreeable. He was a man who liked to talk things out.”
Son of business consultant Sidney W. Edlund and Mary Garlichs Edlund, a homemaker, Timothy Wendell Edlund was born in Niagara Falls, New York, and raised in the Riverside neighborhood of Greenwich, Connecticut.
After graduating from Tabor Academy in Tabor, Massachusetts, Mr. Edlund earned a bachelor’s degree in 1952 in mechanical engineering from Cornell University and served from 1952 to 1954 aboard a Navy destroyer in Korea.
In 1960, Mr. Edlund obtained a master’s degree in business administration from what is now Case Western Reserve University in Cleveland, Ohio. He earned a second master’s in business administration in 1984, and a doctorate in business administration two years later, both from Boston University.
After working as a mechanical engineer in Massachusetts and Rhode Island, in 1986 he came to what is now Loyola University Maryland, where he taught until joining Morgan State University in 1993. A popular figure on campus, he taught strategic management until retiring in 2018.
“Our offices were next door to each other. I was able to experience him talking to students and faculty,” recalled Dr. Adams. “He was very supportive of his students, and even if he didn’t have classes, he’d still be there. The students really liked him and I didn’t know of any colleagues who didn’t like him, and if they didn’t, it was their fault, not Tim’s.”
“He only retired because his hearing wasn’t up to listening to the students in his case management classes,” said his wife, Karol Menzie, a former Baltimore Sun food writer who retired in 2001.
His professional memberships included the North American Case Research Association and the International Association for Business and Society.
Mr. Edlund and his wife, who lived at 100 West University Parkway, had earlier lived in Hampden.
“We lived on the Miracle block of 34th Street for a dozen years and decorated for
Christmas,” Mrs. Edlund wrote in an email.
Mr. Edlund was a deeply religious man and a lifelong Episcopalian whose faith dated back to St. Paul’s Episcopal Church in Greenwich, where he was an altar boy and sang in the choir.
“His faith was very important to him” said his sister, Carol Pierce of Bloomington, Indiana.
For many years he was a communicant of the Episcopal Church of the Good Shepherd in Ruxton, where he was a choir member and Eucharistic minister.
He later became a member of the Episcopal Cathedral of the Incarnation in Guilford where he was also a Eucharistic minister and sang in the choir.
“His faith was very important to him and he always wanted to be at church every Sunday to hold up his part of the fellowship,” said the Very Rev. Boulter.
He was a ubiquitous and engaged parishioner.
“He was extremely active at the cathedral,” the Very Rev. Boulter said. “He was a member of our membership, financial stewardship and music teams.”
Mr. Edlund’s love of the sea and sailing began as a boy growing up on the Long Island Sound. It was his family’s membership in the Riverside Yacht Club in Greenwich that sparked what became a lifelong interest.
After moving to Baltimore, he continued his interest in sailing as an active member of the Potapskut Sailing Association, located on the Magothy River in Anne Arundel County.
“Our Cal-23 is named the Cygnet, which means young swan,” Mrs. Edlund said, referring to a type of sailboat. “We didn’t do overnight sails but sailed on the Magothy River and to the Eastern Shore.”
“Tim had a great love of boats and really enjoyed sailing and fiddling around with his boat,” said Shirley T. “Shirl” Wise, former commodore of the Patapskut Sailing Association. “Every weekend he and Karol were here and they enjoyed the social life of the club and attending parties.”
She added: “Tim was very friendly and when a new member joined, he’d walk right up to them and introduce himself. He jumped right in.”
A world traveler, Mr. Edlund previously visited Scandinavia, Japan, England, South Africa, Australia and New Zealand. Each year he and his wife went on Caribbean and Mediterranean cruises.
An avid sports fan, he was a Ravens follower and an Orioles season ticket holder who looked forward to attending spring training each year.
He supported and attended concerts by Opera Baltimore, Maryland Lyric Opera and the Baltimore Symphony Orchestra.
A service will be held 2 p.m. Saturday at Mr. Edlund’s church, 4 East University Parkway.
In addition to his wife of 15 years and sister, Mr. Edlund is survived by a son, Stephen W. Edlund of Warwick, Rhode Island; a daughter, Sydney Rebecca “Becky” Collette of Sudbury, Vermont; and two nieces and a nephew. An earlier marriage to Patricia Johannsen ended in divorce.