DEDICATION OF HAMMERMAN AREA 387

looked no detail, no matter how small — and feared no adversary,
no matter how powerful.

It is told that once while driving through Druid Hill Park, he saw
some teenage boys purposefully defacing and destroying a tree. Sam
Hammerman leaped from his car and treated the would-be vandals
to a tongue lashing lecture on the vital importance of conservation and
the joys of natural beauty's preservation.

This intensity and vigor of conviction were some years later turned
upon the Mayor of the City of Baltimore, when he proposed to ap-
propriate several acres of the same park for the construction of Balti-
more's Civic Center. S. L. Hammerman waged a relentless battle to
preserve this parkland in its totality, and he won. His courageous
stand later came to have overwhelming significance for the city — for
not only was the purity of the park preserved, but the downtown
location of the civic center created the impetus for all future and
further downtown revitalization. So important was this negative, de-
fensive battle that upon his death a Baltimore Sun editorial, while
noting his many civic and philanthropic contributions to the com-
munity, praised S. L. Hammerman's victory to relocate the Civic
Center as his greatest achievement.

But Sam Hammerman's spirit was greater than one of tenacity in
defense of ideals, it was one demanding constant constructive action.
He led the fight to acquire and preserve Assateague Island as a public
park. He chaired the Committee which developed Maryland's first
master plan for a comprehensive State Park network.

Under his leadership, the Baltimore City Park Board expanded its
zoo so that today its recreational and educational facilities are ranked
among our nation's finest.

Nor was S. L. Hammerman's energy exclusively focused upon the
improvement and expansion of parks for his City and State. His en-
deavors for Loyola College and for the Advertising Club of Baltimore
City were equally vigorous and admirable. His recognition that a
commitment to public service inevitably demanded political action
led him to take an active role in Maryland's Democratic Party where
he served as a delegate to three successive national conventions.

This was a very special man, a gentleman; a warm, vibrant and
gregarious personality; a man who made it big but never forgot he
started small; a man who was equally content and comfortable in
the company of university presidents and bricklayers; a man who had