Richard ‘Dick’ Gatchell
Real estate agent, Johns Hopkins graduate and Fells Point activist, 90, was born in Baltimore and raised in Roland Park
Richard “Dick” Gatchell, who owned a residential real estate business and was a 1960s grassroots Fells Point neighborhood activist, died March 15 of complications from a fall.
He was 90 and a resident of Blakehurst, a retirement community in Towson.
Born in Baltimore and raised in Roland Park on Harvest Road, Richard Emory Gatchell was the son of George Gordon Gatchell, a stockbroker, and Elizabeth Kortwright Monroe Emory, a homemaker. He was the fourth great-grandson of President James Monroe.
His family owned a summer home in Nantucket, Massachusetts. Mr. Gatchell recalled being there at the age of 12 as World War II ended. He carried the American flag in the victory parade down Main Street.
He attended Calvert School and was a 1952 Gilman School graduate. He earned a bachelor’s degree at the Johns Hopkins University and was a member of the fraternity Alpha Delta Phi.
He and a cousin hitchhiked across the U.S. when he was 15.
“They made it to California where they worked as soda jerks to earn enough money for the trip back. He arrived at his Roland Park family home the night before his junior year in high school,” said his daughter, Margaret Gatchell “Mimi” Rodgers. “He carried a note from his father giving permission to make the trip.”
After serving in the Army in Thule, Greenland, he joined the real estate sales firm of Hill and Co. at age 25. He began as a sales associate and eventually purchased the business, where he served for 59 years.
He married Margaret “Peggy” Parsons in 1960. They later divorced.
“Dick was the consummate gentleman Realtor. He was knowledgeable, friendly, a competitor but willing to help you,” said Brandon Gaines, a friend.
“He had a great sense of humor. He had a knowledge of the business — he knew everybody — and you could take his word to the bank.”
Mr. Gatchell knew the city and suburbs well.
“He often sold homes in Baltimore City and County multiple times,” his daughter said. “He would tell me stories of each home we passed, whether it was along St. Paul Street, in Homeland, Ruxton, or the Greenspring Valley. He made hundreds of families’ transitions to Baltimore a smooth one.”
Mr. Gatchell, who served on the Peale Museum’s board for 11 years, was a scholar of Baltimore history.
He was a founder of the preservation group Baltimore Heritage and played a role in early efforts to promote the preservation of Fells Point.
As one of the 12 founding members of the Society for the Preservation of Federal Hill and Fell’s Point, he worked alongside activist Lucretia Fischer and others to fight a planned interstate highway from destroying the neighborhood.
David H. Gleason, president of the group, said: “Without people like Dick Gatchell, the road would have been constructed and we would have a situation like the Highway to Nowhere.”
He also helped organize the bicentennial celebration at Hampton Mansion in Towson.
“Dancing was his number one love,” his daughter said. “He taught many women to dance in Baltimore over the years, and was partner to dozens of debutantes of the Bachelors Cotillon. He danced twice on television, and he has a collection of batons from orchestra leaders such as Sammy Kaye and Meyer Davis. He danced with a cousin, Wallis Warfield, the Duchess of Windsor, too.”
“My best memory of Dick was of his coattails flying as he danced at the Bachelors Cotillon,” said Barbara White, a friend.
Jake Boone, a friend and business colleague said: “He was an exceptional Renaissance man and raconteur who loved a good party and a spin around the dance floor.”
Mr. Gatchell was a member of the Maryland, Elkridge and Mount Vernon clubs and belonged to the Society of the Sons of the Revolution in the State of Maryland.
He was a recipient of Baltimore Heritage’s lifetime achievement award.
“My father started piano lessons at the age of 60 and composed and wrote songs he put into a CD,” said his daughter, Mimi. “In his 80s, he performed in several cabaret performances.”
Mr. Gatchell had been a member of Old St. Paul’s Episcopal Church and later joined the Church of the Redeemer. He made a religious pilgrimage to Medjugorje in Bosnia and Herzegovina, earned an Education for Ministry certificate, and worked with Maryland Episcopal Cursillo, an evangelical group.
A memorial service will be held at 11 a.m. April 13 at the Chapel of the Church of the Redeemer at 5603 N. Charles St.
Survivors include a daughter, Margaret Gatchell “Mimi” Rodgers, of Williamsburg, Virginia; a son, Richard Emory Gatchell Jr., of Baltimore County; and four grandchildren.