[Congressional Record Volume 141, Number 206 (Thursday, December 21, 1995)]
[Senate]
[Pages S19129-S19130]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                            HENRY KNOTT, SR.

 Mr. SARBANES. Mr. President, I am proud to join with the 
Baltimore community and the friends of education throughout Maryland in 
honoring the memory of Henry Knott, Sr., an exemplary family man and a 
great philanthropist. Mr. Knott was an extraordinary citizen whose 
public generosity 

[[Page S19130]]
ranks him with the great names of Baltimore and Maryland philanthropy.
  Henry Knott who died recently at the age of 84, began his working 
days in the 1920's as a bricklayer in his father's construction 
business. This first and humble job would lay the foundation to a 
celebrated career in real estate and development over the course of 
seven decades. The achievement of his distinguished building career is 
reflected in apartment buildings, residences, and commercial centers 
which are located in Baltimore and its surrounding communities.
  What singles out Henry Knott is that he translated his success with 
bricks and mortar into extraordinary philanthropy by graciously 
donating huge amounts of his personal wealth to Maryland educational 
institutions, including his alma mater Loyola College, and also to many 
local hospitals. A modest philanthropist, Mr. Knott was one who deeply 
respected the value of a quality education.
  Henry Knott was also a man who practiced what he preached. A devout 
communicant of the Roman Catholic Church, he and his wife of over 67 
years, Marion Burr Knott, raised a wonderful family of 12 children, 51 
grandchildren, and 55 great grandchildren.
  I extend my most sincere sympathies to his wife Marion, their 
children, and to all of the family and friends of Henry Knott, Sr. Mr. 
President, I ask that an article from the Baltimore Sun that pays 
tribute to Mr. Knott be printed in the Record.
  The article follows:

                [From the Baltimore Sun, Nov. 27, 1995]

              Henry Knott, Sr. Dies; Philanthropist Was 89


        Construction tycoon gave fortunes to hospitals, schools

                 (By Marcia Myers and David Folkenflik)

       Henry J. Knott Sr., the hard-driving multimillionaire 
     developer renowned for his prodigious philanthropy, died 
     yesterday at Johns Hopkins Hospital after a brief illness. He 
     was 89.
       Mr. Knott, who had entered the hospital recently for 
     surgery, later contracted pneumonia, which was listed as the 
     cause of death.
       He started work as a bricklayer with his father's 
     construction company in the 1920s but rose through business 
     as a brick contractor and made his fortune developing real 
     estate. Much of that fortune he gave to Maryland colleges, 
     schools and hospitals, with gifts that particularly linked 
     his name to Loyola College, Hopkins Hospital and the state's 
     Roman Catholic schools.
       Those who knew Mr. Knott attributed his success to his 
     lifelong industriousness.
       ``His interest was work. He was a workaholic,'' said Joseph 
     M. Knott, Mr. Knott's youngest brother and godson. Hobbies 
     held less attraction, Joseph Knott said, ``He wasn't 
     interested in golf. He never belonged to any of the country 
     clubs. He said he couldn't afford it.''
       There were few things Henry Knott could not afford during 
     his adult life. His personal wealth, estimated at $150 
     million in 1987, included major holdings in the Arundel Corp. 
     (before its sale the following year to Florida Rock 
     Industries for $88 million), Henry A. Knott Home Builders and 
     Knott Enterprises.
       Mr. Knott's companies built thousands of homes and 
     businesses in Baltimore, including apartment buildings, 
     rowhouses and shopping centers that dot the metropolitan area 
     from Essex to Lansdowne and from Kingsville to Catonsville.
       The reach of his family was almost as wide as that of his 
     businesses. Mr. Knott and his wife of 67 years, Marion Burke 
     Knott, raised 12 children. At his death, Mr. Knott left 51 
     grandchildren and 55 great-grandchildren.
       ``He had three very intense interests: his family, the 
     Catholic Church and his work,'' said Rick O. Berndt, a lawyer 
     for the Archdiocese of Baltimore who knew Mr. Knott for 
     almost 30 years.
       Cardinal William H. Keeler was visiting with the Knott 
     family last night.
       Through a spokesman, he said, ``We mourn the passing of 
     Henry Knott, whose deep faith and extraordinary charity will 
     long be remembered. I pray that God may comfort his dear 
     wife, Marion, and all his family. Catholic education in 
     Maryland at every level has benefited from the vision and 
     generosity of Henry Knott.''
       Mr. Knott gave millions to charity, primarily Catholic 
     educational institutions such as Loyola College, his alma 
     mater; the College of Notre Dame of Maryland; Mount St. 
     Mary's College, Emmitsburg; and the University of Notre Dame, 
     South Bend, Ind. By 1988, the Knotts' charitable 
     contributions had exceeded $140 million.
       ``He was highly disciplined and unbelievably focused about 
     whatever he was doing. You could not distract him,'' said Mr. 
     Berndt, who was a 26-year-old fledgling attorney when he met 
     Mr. Knott.
       ``I was very idealistic and had many thoughts about how the 
     world should work,'' Mr. Berndt recalled. ``Mr. Knott was one 
     of the ones who regularly brought me down to earth. He was 
     great at the art of what was possible.''
       In 1988, Mr. Knott and his wife created a $26 million fund 
     to benefit 31 local educational, health and cultural 
     institutions.
       Among the recipients were the Johns Hopkins Oncology 
     Center, which received $5 million, and the Baltimore Symphony 
     Orchestra, which was given $1 million. Four Baltimore 
     hospitals, St. Joseph, Mercy, St. Agnes and Bon Secours, each 
     received $1 million to establish an income fund to provide 
     medical care for the poor.


                           schaefer's sorrow

       ``I talked to Mr. Knott's son the other day. He told me 
     that Mr. Knott would not get out of this one,'' former Gov. 
     William Donald Schaefer said. ``I had a real, great sorrow 
     overcome me. Mr. Knott was truly one of the great men of our 
     times, perhaps of all times. He was one of the great pillars 
     of Baltimore.''
       Mr. Knott's largess seemed at odds with his public persona 
     as a gruff, demanding businessman. Yet associates insisted 
     that he was, in private, the antithesis of that image.
       Peter G. Angelos, Orioles owner and former city councilman, 
     knew Mr. Knott for more than 25 years and took issue with 
     what he characterized as a public impression of Mr. Knott as 
     ``a hard-nosed businessman bent on accumulating most of the 
     money in Maryland.''
       Rather, Mr. Angelos said, he came to know Mr. Knott as 
     ``the very gentle person he really is,'' and as an individual 
     who, in private conversation, was fond of discussing broad 
     intellectual subjects, often quoting Plato or Aristotle to 
     make his point.
       ``He's made a lot of money because he drives a hard 
     bargain, but an honest bargain,'' Mr. Angelos said.
       Mr. Knott was among the first to sign on when Mr. Angelos 
     pulled together local investors to buy the Baltimore Orioles 
     in 1993.
       ``He expects a lot from most people, but he expects the 
     most from himself,'' said Mr. Angelos.
       The late Rev. Joseph A. Sellinger, S.J., president of 
     Loyola College, once characterized Mr. Knott as a ``pussy 
     cat'' inside a gruff exterior.
       Mr. Knott's own summation of his talent for accumulating 
     money and then giving it away was made in four short 
     sentences quoted in a Baltimore magazine profile in 1987.
       ``It's like catching fish,'' he said. ``You get up early. 
     You fill the boat up with fish. And then you give them all 
     away before they all start to rot.''
       The Rev. Harold E. Ridley Jr., president of Loyola, said 
     that Mr. Knott maintained a becoming modesty in not seeking 
     credit for his gifts. ``I think that is what made him such an 
     extraordinary individual: His legendary generosity was 
     tempered by an even greater humility,'' Father Ridley said
       The Knott family lived in a large house on Guilford's 
     Greenway during the years in which the 12 children were 
     growing up. Friends jokingly called the home ``the Stork 
     Club''--partly after the posh New York restaurant of the 
     period, but mostly because of the children.
       As word spread of the dynamic household, Mrs. Knott became 
     the subject of newspaper feature articles in which she 
     explained how she managed her day, getting the children 
     through breakfast and off to school, darning socks and 
     mediating squabbles among a very energetic brood.
       ``My family is my club life and outside interests,'' she 
     said in a 1952 interview.
       Meanwhile, Mr. Knott built houses, apartment buildings and 
     shopping centers, acquiring a reputation as a can-do 
     contractor.
       In addition to his building ventures, he became active in a 
     broad range of business and civic activities. He served on 
     Maryland's Advisory Committee on Higher Education in 1964, he 
     became chairman and CEO of the Arundel Corp. and its largest 
     stockholder in 1967 and he headed former Gov. Marvin Mandel's 
     re-election committee in 1974.


                           mr. knott's family

       In addition to his wife, Mr. Knott is survived by his 
     children: Patricia K. Smyth, Alice K. Voelkel, Margaret K. 
     Riehl, Henry J. Knott Jr., Catherine K. Wies, Rose Marie K. 
     Porter, Lindsay K. Harris, Francis X. Knott, James F. Knott, 
     Martin G. Knott, and Mary Stuart K. Rodgers, all of 
     Baltimore; and Marion K. McIntyre, of Del Ray Beach, Fla.; 
     brothers, John L. Knott, the Rev. Francis X. Knott, S.J., and 
     Joseph M. Knott, all of Baltimore; 51 grandchildren and 55 
     great-grandchildren.
       Visiting hours will be 2 p.m. to 4 p.m. and 7 p.m. to 9 
     p.m. today and tomorrow at St. Mary's Seminary, 5400 Roland 
     Ave, with a funeral Mass at 11 a.m. Wednesday at the 
     Cathedral of Mary Our Queen, 5200 N. Charles St.
       Burial will follow at the New Catholic Cemetery.
       Memorial contributions may be made to Loyola College, 
     Loyola High School, Johns Hopkins Hospital, or the College of 
     Notre Dame of Maryland.

                          ____________________