David Boschert, former delegate from Arundel, dies
He had also served on the County Council

By Jacques Kelly, The Baltimore Sun

6:05 PM EDT, July 1, 2011
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David G. Boschert, who served Anne Arundel County in the Maryland House of Delegates as a Republican and was earlier on the County Council as a moderate Democrat, died of liver and pancreatic cancer Thursday evening at his Crownsville home. He was 63.

Born in Annapolis and raised in Crownsville, he was a 1967 graduate of Arundel High School and later attended Anne Arundel Community College, where he received an associate's degree in political science. He also earned a bachelor's degree in business management from the University of Maryland, College Park.

In 1968, Mr. Boschert enlisted in the Marines and fought in Vietnam, where he handled the Agent Orange defoliant, among other duties, friends of his family said.

He left military service as a Marine Corps Reserve captain. He had served as chairman of the Anne Arundel County Veterans Commission and was active in veterans advocacy groups. He remained committed to having sections of the former Crownsville State Hospital made into a veterans' center.

After leaving the military, he worked as a news reporter at radio stations WNAV and WANN in Annapolis. He later went into management training at Farmers National Bank.

In 1979, Mr. Boschert, then a moderate Democrat, was appointed to the Anne Arundel County Board of Appeals, a panel that hears cases related to zoning and planning issues. He was initially appointed to a seat in the Maryland House of Delegates in 1982 to fill out the term of O. James Lighthizer, who became county executive.

He was on the Anne Arundel County Council from 1984 to 1994, serving as its chairman from 1992 to 1993.

He was elected to the Maryland House, serving from 1999 to 2007, and had been vice chair of the Anne Arundel delegation.

"He had a keen political intellect," said Marvin Bond, a longtime friend who had been spokesman for former Maryland Comptroller Louis Goldstein. "Because he had come up the hard way, he had the instincts to know how to help people, his constituents, how to navigate the maze of the bureaucracy."

Mr. Bond described his friend as a moderate who came to the assistance of women who had mastectomies, only to find that Maryland insurers would not pay for prosthetic devices. He successfully sponsored legislation to require insurers to cover the cost. He also supported passage of an anti-hate crime bill.

Anne Arundel County Executive John R. Leopold served for many years in the House of Delegates alongside Mr. Boschert, who was also a primary challenger during Mr. Leopold's 2006 run for county executive.

"He was always affable, collegial — even in a very heated campaign setting," said Mr. Leopold, a Republican. "He was always someone who was able to submerge any personal considerations and focus on trying to get bills passed. He was willing to compromise."

In recent years, Mr. Boschert had advocated for a veterans assistance center to be built on the grounds of the former Crownsville Hospital Center. Lawmakers are still considering options.

"If we could talk to Dave today, he'd say, 'Don't forget about Crownsville,'" said Mr. Leopold. "It was his passion."

At his death, Mr. Boschert was an adjunct professor at Anne Arundel Community College, where he taught a class in government. He took his students to the General Assembly and to county government offices. For the past three years, he had been director of the Maryland Classified Employees Association.

He had earlier been assistant branch manager of the old First National Bank and a manager of Farmers National Bank. He was also a past president of the West Anne Arundel County Chamber of Commerce.

A Mass of Christian burial will be at 10 a.m. July 9 at Our Lady of the Fields Roman Catholic Church, 1720 S. Cecil Ave. in Millersville.

Survivors include his wife of nearly 40 years, the former Marion Raines; a son, Michael Christopher Boschert of Crownsville; a daughter, Christine Marie Hagan of Odenton; his mother, Miriam Gies of Gambrills; two sisters, Jean B. Guite of Glen Burnie and Cecelia Diane Smith of Crofton; and two grandsons.

Baltimore Sun reporter Nicole Fuller contributed to this article.

jacques.kelly@baltsun.com

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