College Park Loses an Institution in Jack Perry

Longtime City Councilman John Edward “Jack” Perry of Berwyn—a man of strong convictions, conservative politics, and a love of family and community—died Monday morning, at the age of 69. Just months after retiring from council, he succumbed to the liver cancer he battled since 2009.

During his 26 years on the council, Perry became known as a watchdog for taxpayer money who spoke bluntly and often dissented from the majority vote, though he always provided the rationale for his beliefs.

"Yes, a lot of times I didn't agree with people here," . "But you have to have a 'nay' vote ... If you weren't making waves, you weren't moving."

He was honored at a reception that month, when so many leaders, residents and family members attended that it was standing room only in the council chambers.

“This gentleman made sure we are not a rubber stamp,” former College Park .

But, “He has a heart,” Page added.

Strong Convictions, Conservatism

In 1991, Perry was running for his fourth term on council, campaigning alongside Maxine Gross. City districts 3 and 4 combined that year, bringing Lakeland and Berwyn into the new Dist. 2.

Some thought the pair an unlikely duo, Gross said. They were from different neighborhoods and at different stages of their lives—Gross was young and single, and Perry, 49 at the time, was a family man.

And, like many of his colleagues and former colleagues, she and Perry often didn’t agree.

“He had firm beliefs on what was the role of local government,” Gross said. “There were things that he felt local government should do and things he truly felt was not our business.”

Their differences—even those of opinion—didn’t matter while campaigning, Gross said, because Perry respected everyone.

“He’d grumble a bit, then he’d shake his head and take you out for a Coca Cola … Actually, he was a Pepsi man at the time,” she said.

'Team Perry'

Perry’s leadership wasn’t lost on his six children, who said his strong opinions went beyond his political role.

“He’s going to say what’s on his mind and speak it like it is. Either you like him or you don’t like him,” said his daughter, Christine Doyle, 40. “He’ll listen to what you have to say and take it into consideration.”

When their father was diagnosed in 2009 with liver cancer, the six children formed “Team Perry” to participate in the Relay for Life in Catonsville every summer. They served snow cones and coffee, and made sure one person from the team was walking on the track at all times for 12 hours, Doyle said. Because their father was patriotic—a veteran who served the Coast Guard from 1960 to 1964—an American flag always hung at the Team Perry tent.

In three years, they’ve raised $30,000 for the American Cancer Society, Doyle said.

Since Perry died on Monday morning, the team’s funds for this year quadrupled, from about $700 to almost $2,900.

“My dad was just very proud of the fact that we decided to do this,” Doyle said.

But then again, Perry was always proud of his family.

A Friend's Perspective

“Every time I saw him, I’d hear something about one of the kids,” City Manager Joe Nagro said.

In the 30 years that Nagro knew Perry, they became friends. They watched each other's kids grow up. He visited Perry at his home, even last Friday, three days before Perry died.

The working relationship between the two changed throughout the years, as Nagro moved from serving as a four-term councilmember, to deputy director of public works, to his current city manager position.

“Jack would always listen. Jack would always ask a lot of questions and a lot of times they were the questions that no one else was asking,” Nagro said.

Keeping it Basic

A lot of his questions came during budget season. A fiscal conservative, Perry often voted against the city’s budget, city officials said.

“If he didn’t agree with all of it, he didn’t agree on any of it,” Nagro said.

Perry also believed that it was government’s role to provide the basics for residents; making sure roads were paved and garbage picked up, for example. He became known as a champion of public works in the city.

“As far as Jack was concerned, that was an important department because it was half our budget at one time,” Nagro said.

Every Sunday, Perry rode around the city with fellow Berwyn resident, Jerry Anzulovic, inspecting the city, looking for things like signs that needed fixing or grass that needed cut. On Monday mornings, he took the list to Nagro.

Perry’s dedication to basic government services was apparently noticed by residents, too.

When it snowed in College Park, a pair of former residents could always expect a call from Perry to find out if the plows had visited their street yet, they wrote on the funeral home obituary page on Wednesday.

“Within a half hour there was always a snow plow on our street ... Jack always made things happen...” they wrote.

Institutional Knowledge, A Sense of Humor

Perry’s dedication to the community expanded beyond public works, though.

Before becoming the current mayor of College Park, back when he was a graduate student at the University of Maryland in the early 1990s, Andrew Fellows would observe Perry at the council meetings.

“[Perry] knew every book. He knew every department,” Fellows said. “He would often surprise me by what he knew about the environment.”

But, even after he was elected to council in 2001 to represent Dist. 3, it took some time before Perry stopped calling Fellows “What’s-His-Name.” And once, Perry picked on Fellows for his long, curly hair.

“He had…a good time making fun of me, I think, in my progressive ways,” Fellows said.

Although they often didn’t see eye-to-eye, Fellows said Perry was supportive when he decided to run for, and then was elected as mayor.

“He was on my right-hand side. He would help me out a lot,” Fellows said.

Stepping Down

Perry’s retirement meant a loss of institutional knowledge on the council, fellow Dist. 2 representative Bob Catlin said in December.

Perry served terms on council from 1980 through 1983 and from 1990 to 2011. He ran for mayor in 1983, losing to Alvin Kushner. He chose not to run in the two subsequent elections, because he supported incumbent Dervey Lomax and didn’t want to run against him, Nagro said.

By the end of his 13^th term, the job had gotten old, and he had gotten older, . Though he didn’t mention cancer, he did say he was treating every day like it was a gift.

“He would get up every morning and tell my mom ‘I’m still fighting,’” said Doyle, his daughter.

Born in Washington on May 15, 1942, Perry died just shy of his 70th birthday.

He attended Sacred Heart School and graduated from Archbishop Carroll High School, both in Washington.

Perry and his wife, Kathleen, married on March 22, 1969. They moved to College Park and became parishioners of the that same year. Perry was self-employed, buying up recycled auto parts to re-sell them.

He was heavily involved with the Girls and Boys Club and Berwyn District Civic Association, even serving as president for both organizations. He was inducted into the Maryland Municipal League Hall of Fame, an honor for those who served 20 years or more as a municipal elected official.

The bicycle plaza at Berwyn Road and the trolley trail were named in honor of Perry in December.

He is survived by his wife, Kathleen, and his six children and their spouses: Sean (Melissa) Perry; Christine (Russell) Doyle; Donna (David) Long; Joseph (Danielle) Perry; Jennifer (Andy) DiStefano; and Colleen (Mark) Gruber. Perry is also survived by six grandchildren and five sisters.

A Catholic mass will take place at 10 a.m. on Friday at . Burial will follow at Mt. Olivet Cemetery in Washington, D.C.