William Donald Schaefer, who served 50 years in public office in Maryland, died yesterday at the age of 89 after being hospitalized for pneumonia. Schaefer served as Baltimore mayor from 1971 to 1987, Maryland governor from 1987 to 1995 and Maryland comptroller from 1999 to 2007.
Schaefer was a colorful and sometimes controversial public official who was best known around the country for public relations stunts, such as dressing in an old-time bathing costume and carrying an inflatable duck into a seal pool at the National Aquarium.
Schaefer, a long-time Democrat, sometimes angered party members by allying himself with Republicans, such as the time he flew to Missouri in 1992 to endorse the re-election bid of President George H.W. Bush.
After leaving the governor’s office at the constitutional limit of his term, Schaefer filed for comptroller. Another political icon, Calvert countian Louis Goldstein had died six months earlier. Fellow Calvert countian, Bobby Swann, who had been Goldstein’s deputy, became acting comptroller following Goldstein’s death…
Swann, who retired six months after Schaefer’s election, said he worked with his new boss before and after the election and Schaefer sought his advice. “I left him the good team that Louis put together.” Swann, of Solomons, later became a Calvert County commissioner.
Swann said that Schaefer was friendly towards Southern Maryland as he was to other parts of the state. But Swann added, “His great interest was Baltimore City. He was mayor forever. He loved being mayor.”
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