The Johns Hopkins Gazette: September 4, 2001
September 4, 2001
VOL. 31, NO. 1

  

Downtown Center's Passano Gallery to Showcase History of Baltimore Businesses

Johns Hopkins Gazette Online Edition

The new Downtown Center of the School of Professional Studies in Business and Education will hold a gala reception for Baltimore-area business leaders and educators on Sept. 7 to mark the inaugural exhibit in its new Passano Gallery. The event will take place from 3 to 5 p.m. at the center.

Named to honor the contributions of SPSBE alumni Helen M. and E. Magruder (Mac) Passano Jr.; their daughters, Catherine, Tammy and Sarah; and Mac Passano's late father, Edward M. (Ned) Passano, a 1927 Hopkins graduate, and grandfather Edward Boetler Passano, the Passano Gallery is bringing to life the lobby and first floor of the new Downtown Center, the construction of which would not have been possible without the Passanos' generosity.

Lining the walls will be displays that speak eloquently of Baltimore's business history and its entrepreneurs. The inaugural exhibit features photographs and artifacts describing the philosophy, practices and history of Waverly Press (originally Williams & Wilkins), a pioneering publisher of medical journals and textbooks that was owned and operated by the Passano family for 90 years, from 1908 to 1998.

The display documents how Waverly Press survived the Great Baltimore Fire of 1904 and under the Passanos' guidance set the highest standards for skillful management and quality production work that enabled it to prosper throughout the dramatic shifts in local, national and international economic cycles of the 20th century.

Future displays will showcase the histories of other local companies and how their work has been vital to Baltimore's business community and often the nation at large.

--Neil A. Grauer


GO TO SEPTEMBER 4, 2001 TABLE OF CONTENTS.
GO TO THE GAZETTE HOME PAGE.