© 2024 WEAA
THE VOICE OF THE COMMUNITY
Play Live Radio
Next Up:
0:00
0:00
0:00 0:00
Available On Air Stations
Help us keep this community resource alive by making a contribution today!
Wrap-up of news stories taken from the day's local headlines.

Frank Conaway Sr., Clerk of Circuit Court, Dies

Frank M. Conaway Sr., the long-time clerk of Baltimore City Circuit Court who has held public office for more than four decades, died last night in his sleep at his Northwest Baltimore home. He was 81.

Conaway, who dubbed himself “the godfather of black politics in Baltimore,” was the patriarch of a family of public servants. His wife, Mary Conaway, was Baltimore City Register of Wills from 1982 until her retirement in 2012; his daughter, Belinda Conaway, was elected to that position in 2014; and son, Frank Conaway Jr., is a member of the Maryland House of Delegates.

“He has a long record of activism in Maryland and Baltimore city politics,” said Delegate Cheryl D. Glenn (D-45), 2nd Vice-Chair of the Legislative Black Caucus of Maryland. “Mr. Conaway fought hard for what he believes in and leaves a legacy through his children.”

Conaway was first appointed clerk in 1998 and served on the Criminal Justice Coordinating Council. A Baltimore native, he attended Frederick Douglass High School and graduated from Morgan State College with a B.A. in 1960. The former insurance executive was elected to the Maryland House of Delegates in 1971 and represented Baltimore’s Fourth District until 1975. He served as a member of the Constitutional and Administrative Law Committee and Maryland’s Comprehensive Health Planning Commission. Conaway was again elected to the House of Delegates from 1979 to 1983, representing Baltimore’s 40th District and serving on the Economic Matters Committee.

Conaway ran for mayor of Baltimore City in 2011, losing to Stephanie Rawlings-Blake, and recently made news when the long-time Democrat switched parties in December 2014, becoming the first Republican from Baltimore City to hold elected office since the 1960s.

“He was one of my mentors and he will be sorely missed,” said Del. Barbara Robinson (D-40), chair of the Maryland Legislative Black Caucus. “People may laugh at the things he did in later years, but he paved the way for a lot of people.”

Robinson also recalls Conaway’s efforts outside of elected office.

“Back in the day when the court system wasn’t very kind to people of color, especially women, I was the first woman to head the court system in the State of Maryland, then called the Supreme Bench,” Robinson said of Conaway’s impact on her own career. “When he was an insurance man, Frank Conaway and Little Willie Adams would meet upstairs, planning how we could get a Black person in the position as deputy administrator of the Supreme Bench. He once served as chair of the Legislative Black Caucus; I’m now chair of the Caucus. He was a champion for African Americans. I stand on his shoulders.”