http://www.baltimoresun.com/news/obituaries/bal-md.ob.hagner4dec04,1,6765432.story?coll=bal-news-obituaries
Elmer F. Hagner Jr., 85, chief of police in Anne Arundel, 4-term state
delegate
By Jacques Kelly
Sun Staff
December 4, 2004
Elmer F. Hagner Jr., a former Anne Arundel County police chief who
served in the General Assembly for 16 years, died Wednesday after
falling last month at his Annapolis home. The 85-year-old Annapolis
resident died at Anne Arundel Medical Center.
A decorated World War II veteran, he was the county's police chief from
1964 to 1969, after which he entered politics as a Democrat and was
elected to four terms in the Maryland House of Delegates.
"As a police officer he was very much a gentle man, respected and
liked. The fact he was overwhelmingly elected to the General Assembly
speaks to his popularity," said the county's former executive, Robert
R. Neall. "He was soft-spoken and was genuinely nice and accommodating
to people."
Born in Baltimore and raised in Solley and Orchard Beach, Mr. Hagner
attended Anne Arundel County public schools. After working as a laborer
at the old Pullman Standard Car Co., a railway passenger car foundry in
Curtis Bay, and at Davison Chemical, he joined the Army Air Corps and
was a radio operator and tail gunner during World War II.
He completed 47 combat missions in Europe and North Africa. He was
awarded the Bronze Star and the Distinguished Flying Cross with four
oak leaf clusters, and had 14 Battle Stars. Among his missions was the
initial raid of the Ploesti oil fields in Romania. He attained the rank
of sergeant.
After the war Mr. Hagner joined the Anne Arundel County Police
Department, rising to become its chief. He was a 1955 graduate of the
FBI National Academy and was past president of the Maryland Chiefs of
Police Association.
"He was a conscientious man, strictly honest," said former Anne Arundel
County executive Joseph W. Alton Jr., a longtime friend. "He was a
modest man, not really that outgoing."
After resigning from the Police Department because of a back injury,
Mr. Hagner began his political career. First elected in 1971 to the
House of Delegates, he was a member of the House Judiciary Committee.
He served until 1987.
"He made the transition smoothly from the Police Department to the
State House," said John R. Hammond, Anne Arundel County budget officer.
In 1977 Mr. Hagner introduced a bill that would have imparted an extra
sentence to those who wore a face mask or concealed their identities
while engaged in criminal activity. The measure failed.
Mr. Hagner was a life member of Annapolis Elks Lodge, the FBI National
Academy Alumni and the Fraternal Order of Police Lodge 70. A
thoroughfare leading to the Anne Arundel County Police Academy in
Davidsonville was named Elmer F. Hagner Lane.
"His family was his life," said his daughter, Barbara L. Reardon of
Annapolis. "He and my mother had the perfect marriage."
A Mass of Christian burial will be offered at 9:30 a.m. Monday at St.
Mary's Roman Catholic Church, 109 Duke of Gloucester St., where he was
a member.
Survivors also include his wife of 58 years, the former Anna C. Lewnes;
a son, Darryl R. Hagner of Owings; a brother, James F. Hagner of
Orchard Beach; a sister, Rose Rickert of Pasadena; 10 grandchildren;
and three great-grandchildren.
Copyright © 2004, The Baltimore Sun