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Raymond A. Dypski, 81, served as a delegate for two decades
By Jacques Kelly and Frederick N. Rasmussen
Sun Staff

November 2, 2004

Raymond A. Dypski, a colorful and independent-minded East Baltimore legislator who served in the House of Delegates for two decades, died of heart and kidney failure Sunday at Stella Maris Hospice at Mercy Medical Center. He was 81.

Mr. Dypski was born and raised in a two-story Dillon Street rowhouse, one of 12 children - 11 of them boys. His mother was a cannery worker from Glen Burnie, his father an Austrian immigrant who died in an automobile accident when Mr. Dypski was a child.

Mr. Dypski dropped out of junior high school, and during World War II served in the merchant marine as a seaman aboard Liberty ships in the North Atlantic.

In the early 1950s, Mr. Dypski was hired by Bethlehem Steel Corp. and began a 25-year career in which he became a tester and inspector in the metallurgical department at the company's Sparrows Point plant.

Mr. Dypski, a Democrat, was first elected to the House of Delegates in 1966 - three years before earning his General Educational Development certificate at Patterson High School.

"I went to the legislature with only an eighth-grade education. I was scared to death. At first I would scratch my head and wonder what I was doing here," he told The Evening Sun at the time of his 1986 retirement from the legislature. "In a short time, I was scratching my head and wondering how these other guys got here."

"I decided to run after 342 families got forced out of their homes for the expressway down here in Canton. Most of these people were elderly and died of broken hearts 'cause they had to leave. None of the politicians would listen to them," he said.

The houses were torn down, but the highway was never built - the plan eventually defeated by community opposition.

"He was always interested in helping people, loved FDR, and decided to give it a shot," said his brother Cornell N. Dypski, a former delegate and state senator.

"When he ran for the District 46 seat, he broke the machine. Ray pulled it off. And it was the first time it was ever done," said Cornell Dypski, who served as his brother's campaign manager. "He expressed a great deal of independence, and the only organization he was tied to was the people."

To keep campaign expenses low, Raymond Dypski and his family members focused efforts around a slogan, "Three Cheers for Dypski," which they had reproduced on cardboard placards.

"They mounted the signs on tops of old wrecks of cars, then parked them on strategic corners, say at Eastern and Patterson Park Avenue for days, until they moved the cars to another prominent spot," said Del. Carolyn J. Krysiac, a Democrat who has represented District 46 since 1991. "It was free and a great idea, and always made you think 'Dypski.'"

Mrs. Krysiac said the Dypski name was instantly recognized throughout Canton and Highlandtown. "The total persona was the name. Ray was really anti-organization and was a populist at heart. I guess he painted himself as an underdog - and it worked."

Former state Sen. Julian L. Lapides, a longtime friend, said, "He was one of the great characters of the city. His 1966 campaign was the only truly independent one in the city for the House of Delegates, and if there was ever a grass-roots campaign, it was Ray's. I think he did the whole thing for under a thousand dollars."

"He was one of the most colorful politicians in East Baltimore," said Thomas J. D'Alesandro III, Baltimore's mayor in the late 1960s. "He was energetic, hard-working and a staunch Democrat."

Even though Mr. Dypski was described by The Sun as a "tilter at windmills" and "an outsider at an insiders' game," he never got lost in the shuffle in Annapolis, and he placed a high priority on constituent service.

Mr. Dypski's district office was in his home, complete with a roll-top desk, and he boasted that constituents came in such numbers that he had to replace the wall-to-wall carpeting three times.

He was an early advocate of environmental legislation and successfully introduced a bill that - for a time - prohibited the telephone company from charging for 411 calls.

"When I voted for bills that cleaned up the bay, people told me the big shots at Sparrows Point wouldn't like that. I told 'em that the big shots at Sparrows Point didn't get me elected to office," he said in the retirement interview.

He also introduced a less successful bill to recognize Clayton Moore as the true Lone Ranger and to restrain the company that held the rights to the old television show from prohibiting the actor from wearing the ranger costume's mask in public.

Another failed bill he introduced was a resolution to honor a Baltimore Block stripper who had saved the life of heart-attack victim after administering cardiopulmonary resuscitation.

"He never compromised his principles or minced his words. And he always stuck up for his community," said Rep. Benjamin L. Cardin, a fellow Democrat and former colleague in the legislature.

Failing health led to Mr. Dypski's decision not to seek re-election after five terms.

"It was a tough decision. You might say I got a weakness for people and campaigning. But, you know, I made a lot of friends, from janitors to governors," Mr. Dypski told the newspaper.

"I think he missed political life and Annapolis; however, he was still trying to help people when and where he could," said his brother.

Mr. Dypski, a lifelong bachelor, had lived in recent years in the 400 block of S. Ellwood Ave. He enjoyed playing cards, going to the racetrack and following the Orioles and Ravens.

He was a member of St. Casimir Roman Catholic Church, Kenwood Avenue and O'Donnell Street, where a Mass of Christian burial will be offered at 10 a.m. Friday.

He also is survived by another brother, Lawrence Dypski of Overlea; a sister, Theresa M. Posko of Pasadena; and many nieces and nephews.

Copyright © 2004, The Baltimore Sun