UBalt Community Remembers Prominent Alumnus Peter Angelos
March 25, 2024
Contact: Office of Advancement and External Relations
Phone: 410.837.5739
The following message was sent to The University of Baltimore community by UBalt President Kurt L. Schmoke on March 25:
Today we are mourning the loss of one of the University's most widely recognized graduates, Peter Angelos, LL.B. '61. Mr. Angelos, the longtime owner of the Baltimore Orioles, a leader of the legal community and a major financial supporter of his alma mater, passed away on Saturday, March 23 following a long illness. He was 94.
Mr. Angelos was a true friend of the University, giving more than $18 million during his lifetime, including a total gift of $15 million for the University's law center building named in honor of his parents. Standing tall over the intersection of Charles Street and Mt. Royal Avenue, the John and Frances Angelos Law Center is an iconic structure for both the University and central Baltimore. The Angelos name also is prominent in the law school's academic programming, with the Fannie Angelos Program for Academic Excellence serving as a nationally acclaimed model to encourage diversity in the development of lawyers and the practice of law. Fannie Angelos, L.L.B. '51, Peter's sister and a practitioner in his family's law firm, was a champion of such efforts. She graduated from UBalt Law in 1951, one of three women in her class. She also graduated from the University's Junior College in 1949 with an associates degree. Fannie Angelos died in 2015.
In the 1990s, Mr. Angelos and his law firm organized multiple class-action lawsuits against asbestos manufacturers, winning more than $1 billion in damages for pipefitters, steelworkers and their families. Commissions from this work allowed him to purchase the baseball team in 1993.
UBalt Law Dean Ronald Weich, who became dean in 2012 and saw the opening of the Angelos building soon after, said, "Peter Angelos was one of the most successful and most loyal graduates of our law school. He was a fierce advocate for his clients and a champion for justice."
I have been honored to know Peter Angelos throughout my professional career, from my time as a young prosecutor, to when I was mayor, to more recent years through his strong support for The University of Baltimore. He was both a personal and professional friend to me, and I view him as an individual who left quite a mark on our community, in his capacity as a businessman, a political advocate, and as a philanthropist. Peter will be greatly missed.
Read about the life of Peter Angelos in The Baltimore Banner.