09-04-2025
Herb Belgrad, pioneering lawyer who led Camden Yards development, dies at 90
Herb Belgrad, first chairman of the Maryland Stadium Authority Board, at his home recently. (Photo by William F. Zorzi/Maryland Matters)
Herbert J. Belgrad wasn't much of a baseball fan. In fact, he wasn't really a sports fan at all.
But on April 6, 1992, Belgrad, the first-ever chairman of the Maryland Stadium Authority board, knew he had helped to create something special.
It was the first Opening Day at Oriole Park at Camden Yards, and there sat Belgrad with then-Gov. William Donald Schaefer, watching as the bands played and the fans began to filter into those dark green folding seats. Bruce Hoffman, a former executive director of the authority, recalled the moment.
'I looked at the governor, and the tears were running down his face,' Hoffman said. 'He was so freaking happy. And that's when Herb really took the deep sigh and said: 'You know, we pulled it off.''
Belgrad, 90, died Sunday while on his regular morning walk along the Baltimore waterfront in Canton. Family members said he fell into the Patapsco, though they aren't sure how exactly. They believe it could have been a heart attack, as he had recently developed heart issues.
The city's Office of the Chief Medical Examiner ruled his death accidental, adding that it was caused by a heart condition, hypertensive atherosclerotic cardiovascular disease, and complicated by drowning.
Belgrad was a labor and divorce lawyer who became an architect of the deals that brought the ballpark to life — and ensured the Orioles would remain in Baltimore to play there.
Born in Washington, D.C., Belgrad later attended City College high school in Baltimore and graduated cum laude from Johns Hopkins University, according to an online obituary from his family. A master's degree from the University of Illinois and a law degree from the University of Maryland would follow.
Belgrad briefly served as an assistant city solicitor, before going into private practice at Tydings and Rosenberg, where he became a partner. He was there from 1968 until his retirement in 2020.
But it was his volunteer work — especially at the stadium authority, but also with the Maryland State Ethics Commission, local bar associations and Jewish charities — that came to define his career.
Belgrad is survived by his wife of 65 years, Joanne Lott Belgrad, and their three children, Steve Belgrad, Susie Hayes and Leslie Finton, as well as eight grandchildren.
His children said Belgrad worked tirelessly, such that he didn't have much time for hobbies. But they said he was always there for the important moments in their lives. Hayes said she has fond memories of late nights spent together, after he arrived home from work.
'He would perch at the dining room table, doing his work, and we would come in intermittently to interrupt him,' Hayes said.
Belgrad's calm nature permeated the household, where loud family fights were practically unheard of, Hayes said. As a lawyer, Belgrad developed a knack for being an adversary without being adversarial.
'So many people, when they negotiate now, especially in business, it's like a zero-sum game — what someone else wins is what someone else loses,' Steve Belgrad said. 'He would come at issues around negotiation and stuff, with sort of an innate sense of fairness, and trying to get to an outcome that was going to be fair to both sides.'
Janet Marie Smith, the Orioles' in-house architect during the construction of Camden Yards, said that Belgrad was a 'pioneer' as the stadium authority's first board chairman. Driven by immense civic pride rather than love of sport, Belgrad became a steadying hand for high stakes negotiations, which brought the Orioles downtown from the aged Memorial Stadium.
'Herb, as the leader, set a tone for really believing that this project was more than just solving a problem for the baseball team. It was the cornerstone of reinventing Baltimore,' Smith said.
At a critical decision point — deciding whether to keep the B&O Warehouse that became the backbone of Oriole Park — Belgrad was pragmatic rather than emotional, Smith said. He insisted that a study be performed, assessing the economics. Ultimately, the warehouse won out.
'There were many people who thought tearing down the warehouse would be of no consequence, because it was just, well, a warehouse. It wasn't the U.S. Capitol,' Smith said.
'People were like: 'Tear that ugly thing down. It's just going to block the view of the city,'' Steve Belgrad said. 'And he was very firm on, that's what is going to add character.'
As Opening Day neared in 1992, the warehouse still hadn't been restored. In fact, it looked 'bombed out,' Smith said. It was Belgrad and Hoffman who went to the General Assembly and found the funds to rehab the outside, in time for first pitch, Smith said. The interior development came later.
Belgrad was proud to have Camden Yards on the national stage as host for the 1993 All-Star Game. Smith said she believes it helped raise the city's profile in time to attract the Baltimore Ravens — even if the move came after Belgrad's tenure as chairman.
Belgrad's relationships with the General Assembly, Schaefer and even the Orioles were built on trust, said Hoffman, whom Belgrad appointed to serve as the authority's first executive director.
'People trusted us, and they always trusted Herb,' Hoffman said. 'He was just one of those people that you knew he was telling you the truth. And you knew that once he shook your hand, the deal was done.'
Mark Wasserman, a top aide to Schaefer, said that even though Belgrad was appointed board chairman by Gov. Harry R. Hughes, Schaefer opted to keep him around for the stadium project he envisioned transforming Baltimore.
He did so even though Belgrad had supported Schaefer's opponent for governor, Maryland Attorney General Stephen H. Sachs, Wasserman said.
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'The little blip politically was very quickly put to the side,' Wasserman said.
Once he became board chairman in 1986, he faced complex challenges: Quickly negotiating deals to relocate the commercial bakery, the middle school, the grocer and more that stood on the site of the ballpark. Negotiating a lease with the Orioles. Belgrad spearheaded it all. And in doing so, came to define the role of the stadium authority.
'The challenge was to take something, which was at that point, a shell of an organization — really just a piece of paper — and give it funding and give it direction,' Wasserman said.
Belgrad did just that.
Belgrad also exerted a considerable amount of effort to bring an NFL team to Baltimore, but he knew that memories of the Baltimore Colts' departure in the middle of the night still stung.
'He was very hesitant to sort of do to another city what happened to Baltimore,' Belgrad said. 'And so he focused on trying to get the expansion teams, which didn't happen.
His children said he was known to wear a pair of sweatpants that advertised the 'Baltimore Cardinals,' after an unsuccessful bid to attract the then-St. Louis Cardinals football team to Charm City.
For John Moag, the stadium authority board chairman who came next, Belgrad became a valued confidant.
'Most of the time when we met to talk, I was either asking him for advice, or we were talking about family,' Moag said.
Joe Spear, retired senior principal for architectural firm Populous, which was then HOK Sport, said he remembered Belgrad's even-keeled nature more than anything.
'He clearly believed that business should be conducted in a normal tone of voice. You disagree, and you might be passionate about it, but there's no real call to be shouting at somebody,' Spear said.
Belgrad was also disciplined, Spear said. He would host the Orioles, the architects and the stadium authority at his law office for meetings, and he would ensure that lunch was on offer. But not for himself.
'He came in, and he had his brown bag and we're all eating this catered lunch, and he's there with his sandwich,' Spear said.
A funeral service for Belgrad will take place Wednesday at 9:30 a.m. at Sol Levinson's Chapel in Pikesville.
