Benjamin Cadwalader

Benjamin R. Cadwalader, an attorney and World War II Veteran, died Wednesday, August 29, 2018 of cardiac respiratory failure and prostate cancer at Easton Memorial Hospital in Easton, Maryland. The former Gibson Island resident was 96.

Mr. Cadwalader was born in 1922 at Women's Hospital in Bolton Hill to parents, Thomas F. Cadwalader and Elizabeth Middleton Read, who traced their lineage to a signer of the Declaration of Independence, Arthur Middleton and a Revolutionary War General, John Cadwalader.

Mr. Cadwalader grew up in Bolton Hill and the family's second home in Harford County. He graduated from The Episcopal High School in 1940 and earned a bachelor's degree from Yale in 1948. After two years at Yale, he enlisted in the Army, where he served as a pilot in World War II from 1942-1945. After leaving the Army as a Captain in 1945, he returned to Yale to obtain his degree in 1948. When he graduated from Yale, he was offered the choice of being a member of the Class of 1948 or the Class of 1944, he chose 1944.

After graduation Yale, he entered the Maryland School of Law, and became licensed to practice law in Maryland in 1952. From 1952 until 2007, he practiced law as a sole practitioner in Bel Air, Harford County, Maryland. During this time, he was Secretary to the Harford County Zoning Board and appointed by the Circuit Court for Harford County to serve as a Master in Civil cases.

From 1952 to 1965, Mr. Cadwalader was a pilot in the Maryland National Guard. On April 26, 2006, he was made a member of the Honorable Order of St. Barbara by the United States Field Artillery Association.

Mr. Cadwalader remained a bachelor until the age of 40, when he married Marjorie "Maggie" Stewart Bagley and remained happily married for thirty years until her death in 1998. On July 14, 2007, Mr. Cadwalader married Eleanor Parker Baker. While there was only two weeks' notice given to family and friends and no invitations sent out, over 160 people attended their wedding at Christ Church in St. Michaels and the reception at Eleanor's home "Webley" in Whitman, Maryland, which many who attended called it one of the most meaningful and loving weddings that they had ever attended.

Mr. Cadwalader was a member of the Gibson Island Club for over 50 years, as well as the Bachelor's Cotillion. While a Member of the Gibson Island Club, he participated in many sailboat races on the Chesapeake Bay, as well as in the Annapolis to Newport and Newport to Bermuda races. Until the age of 85, he sailed his own boat single-handedly.

Throughout his life, Mr. Cadwalader was active in charitable organizations and schools. He was President of the ARC of Anne Arundel County. He also served on the Board of the Gibson Island Country School and was a Member of the Board of Trustees of St. Christopher by the Sea, which he was a member of for over 50 years, and where a Memorail Service will be held on Friday, September 14, 2018 at 11:00 AM.

Mr. Cadwalader is survived by his wife, Eleanor Baker Cadwalader, his children Charles Bagley, IV, Mary M. Bagley and John O. Bagley; grandchildren Benjamin H. Bagley, Sarah B. Harries and Virginia B. McFeely and great grandchildren Isabelle F. Harries and Everett E. Bagley.

In lieu of flowers, memorial contributions can be made to the Episcopal High School in Alexandria, Virginia, the Calvert School in Baltimore, Maryland, the Providence Center or Hospice of the Chesapeake in Anne Arundel County, Maryland.