In Memoriam

John Riggs Orrick, AIA

A distinguished architect whose love for his career was sparked while serving in Italy during World War 11, John Orrick, AIA, died of leukemia in January at the age of 84.

John was born and reared in Roland Park. After graduating from Polytechnic Institute, he enrolled in The Johns Hopkins University to study electrical engineering. His studies were interrupted by World War 11, during which he served in the Army Signal Corps, studying radar technology. While stationed in Italy and Corsica, he grew to love Southern Europe’s architecture and culture.

After the war, he earned a degree in architecture at the University of Pennsylvania, and settled in Ruxton with his wife Becky. He later went on to become president and chairman of Smeallie, Orrick and Janka Ltd. which won awards for its design of numerous schools throughout Maryland. It also took part in the design of the city’s Central Booking and Intake Center and many buildings comprising the Keswick Multi-Care Center.

John was an active member of AIABaltimore, and served as its President in 1972. He initiated research on the history of our chapter and worked with several others, especially author Charles Belfoure, to publish AIABALTIMORE: A CHAPTER HISTORY FROM 1870 to 2005.

After retirement, John was especially active on the Board of Directors of the Baltimore Architecture Foundation. He was also an involved member of the Church of the Good Shepherd in Ruxton. He is survived by his wife, three children, and five grandchildren.

John Dorsey

We regret the passing of former Baltimore Sun arts and restaurant critic John Dorsey, who died in April at the age of 69.

Mr. Dorsey was born and reared in Baltimore, living throughout his life in several homes in Bolton Hill and Roland Park. He left to earn a B.A. at Harvard University. He was a versatile Sun writer for decades, beginning with restaurant reviews, and later, his criticism forged interest in Baltimore’s artistic community. He also covered architecture, local history, music and cultural topics.

Along with newspaper friend James Dilts, he wrote A Guide to Baltimore Architecture which has been through three editions with the same authors, and sold about 25,000 copies. Mr. Dorsey was the author of several other books including On Mencken, and Look Again in Baltimore with architectural photographer James Dusel.