Homer Sidney Gudelsky was a prominent real estate developer and philanthropist in the Baltimore-Washington area who helped develop major shopping malls including Tysons Corner Center and Westfield Wheaton, as well as much of the waterfront in

West Ocean City West Ocean City is a census-designated place (CDP) in Worcester County, Maryland, United States. The population was 4,375 at the 2010 census. It is part of the Salisbury, Maryland-Delaware Metropolitan Statistical Area. Geography West Ocean Cit ...

, including the Sunset Marina, Martha's Landing, and the Ocean City Fishing Center. One of the wealthiest people in the region, Gudelsky made his fortune mining sand and gravel and constructing roads. A 1963 sale of land in Howard County to James Rouse allowed the Rouse Company to begin construction of the planned community of

Columbia Columbia may refer to: * Columbia (personification), the historical female national personification of the United States, and a poetic name for America Places North America Natural features * Columbia Plateau, a geologic and geographic region in ...

Life

Gudelsky's father Abraham was a

Polish-Jewish The history of the Jews in Poland dates back at least 1,000 years. For centuries, Poland was home to the largest and most significant Ashkenazi Jewish community in the world. Poland was a principal center of Jewish culture, because of the lon ...

immigrant who had found success as a junk dealer in

Baltimore Baltimore ( , locally: or ) is the most populous city in the U.S. state of Maryland, fourth most populous city in the Mid-Atlantic, and the 30th most populous city in the United States with a population of 585,708 in 2020. Baltimore was d ...

. He had a wife named Martha; four children: Rita Regino, Medda Gudelsky, Holly Stone and John Gudelsky; and eight grandchildren. After 1974, Gudelsky moved to

Boca Raton, Florida Boca Raton ( ; es, Boca Ratón, link=no, ) is a city in Palm Beach County, Florida, United States. It was first incorporated on August 2, 1924, as "Bocaratone," and then incorporated as "Boca Raton" in 1925. The population was 97,422 in the ...

. Gudelsky died from leukemia in 1989 at age 78. During the 1970s and the 1980s, a bitter fight among the Gudelsky family was waged in the courts. Homer and his brother Isadore together had created the Contee Sand & Gravel Co., later renamed Percontee. Following Isadore's death in 1963, his widow Bertha accused Homer of improperly withholding Isadore's $4 million dollar Contee share for 5 years before distributing it to her. Bertha Gudelsky filed a lawsuit in 1973 alleging losses between 1963 and 1968. The case was brought to trial in Baltimore in November 1983. The case was dismissed in February 1984 after Bertha Gudelsky decided to drop the lawsuit.

Legacy

In 1964, with the help of Gudelsky, the B'nai Israel Congregation acquired land for educational center at the intersection of Georgia Avenue and Evans Drive in Wheaton, Maryland. In 1967, the center opened as the Paul Himmelfarb Hebrew School of Congregation B'nai Israel. The Homer and Martha Gudelsky Foundation, a philanthropy organization, was founded by Gudelsky in 1968. $300,000 in donations from the foundation were gifted to the

Coastal Hospice & Palliative Care Coastal Hospice and Palliative Care is a non-profit health care organization founded in 1980. It is located in Salisbury, Maryland, and serves Dorchester, Wicomico, Somerset and Worcester counties. Its mission as a hospice is to serve the nee ...

in Berlin, Maryland, a hospice center serving serving the growing elderly population of Worcester County. The Gudelsky Building of the University of Maryland Medical Center is named in honor of Homer Gudelsky. Homer Gudelsky Park in

West Ocean City, Maryland West Ocean City is a census-designated place (CDP) in Worcester County, Maryland, Worcester County, Maryland, United States. The population was 4,375 at the 2010 United States Census, 2010 census. It is part of the Salisbury metropolitan area, Sali ...

was named in honor of Gudelsky. The property was a gift to Worcester County Recreation & Parks. The beach is colloquially known as Stinky Beach by many locals.

References

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External links

The Collingtonian: A monthly publication of the Collington Residents Association, February 2008
1911 births 1989 deaths American Ashkenazi Jews American real estate businesspeople American people of Polish-Jewish descent Deaths from leukemia in Maryland American philanthropists People from Baltimore People from Boca Raton, Florida People from Silver Spring, Maryland