Timothy W. Edlund — a former professor of strategic management at Morgan State University’s Graves School of Business and Management who was a devoted member of the Episcopal Cathedral of the Incarnation and an avid sailor — died of complications from dementia on Dec. 13 at FutureCare Lochearn in Baltimore. The Homewood resident was 92 years old.
“Tim Edlund had a heartfelt love for people and he could really warm up a room,” said Rev. Rob Boulter, dean of the Episcopal Cathedral of the Incarnation. “He was also an inquisitive person who always wanted to share his ideas.”
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Marjorie G. Adams, Morgan professor of organizational behavior, human resources and leadership development, was a longtime colleague and friend.
“First let me say, and this is sweeping, that Tim Edlund was a good guy and a very good man,” Ms. Adams said. “I never heard Tim raise his voice and if he disagreed, it was never unpleasant. He was a man who liked to talk about things.”
The 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 earned 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 retirement in 2018.
“Our offices were next to each other. I was able to experience it by talking to students and lecturers,” recalls Dr. Adams. “He was very supportive of his students, and even if he didn’t have classes, he would still be there. The students really liked it and I haven’t known any colleagues who didn’t like it, and if they didn’t like it, it’s their fault, not Tim’s.”
“He only retired because his hearing wasn’t able to hear the students in his case management classes,” said his wife, Carol Menzie, a former Baltimore Sun food writer who retired in 2001.
His professional memberships included the Case Research Association of North America and the International Association for Business and Society.
Mr. Edlund and his wife, who lived at 100 West University Parkway, had previously lived in Hampden.
“We lived on the Miracle block of 34th Street for a dozen years and decorated it for Christmas,” Ms. Edlund wrote in an email.
Mr. Edlund was a deeply religious man and a lifelong Episcopalian whose faith dates 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 in church every Sunday to keep his part of fellowship,” said the Very Rev. Boulter.
He was a ubiquitous and engaged parishioner.
“He was extremely active in the cathedral,” said the Very Rev. Boulter. “He was a member of our membership, finance and music teams.”
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Mr. Edlund’s love of the sea and sailing began as a boy growing up on Long Island Sound. It was his family’s membership of 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 Potapsk Sailing Association, located on the Magoty River in Anne Arundel County.
“Our Cal-23 is called a Cygnet, which means young swan,” Ms. Edlund said, referring to a type of sailboat. “We didn’t do overnight cruises, but we cruised the Magoty River and the east coast.”
“Tim had a great love of boats and really enjoyed sailing and shooting his boat,” said Shirley T. “Shirl” Wise, former commodore of the Patapsku Sailing Association. “Every weekend he and Karol were here and enjoyed the social life of the club and attending parties.”
She added: “Tim was very friendly and when a new member joined he would walk up to them and introduce himself. He jumped right in.”
A world traveler, Mr. Edlund has previously visited Scandinavia, Japan, England, South Africa, Australia and New Zealand. Every year he and his wife went on cruises to the Caribbean and the Mediterranean.
An avid sports fan, he was a Ravens fan and Orioles season ticket holder who looked forward to attending spring training each year.
He supported and attended concerts by the Baltimore Opera, Maryland Lyric Opera and the Baltimore Symphony Orchestra.
A service will be held at 2:00 p.m. Saturday at the church of Mr. Edlund, 4 East University Parkway.
In addition to his 15-year-old wife 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. A previous marriage to Patricia Johannsen ended in divorce.
