Gerald Fischman

Fischman, 61, had been at the newspaper for more than 25 years. The editorial page editor was known to have a quiet and reserved personality, but his work and knowledge charmed many.

“He had an encyclopedia knowledge of everything from the philosophy to who knows what,” Brian Henley, a retired editor, told The Baltimore Sun.

The editorial page “may be the best way to read a community’s mind,” he wrote in a column in December.

Fischman recently won two awards from the Maryland, Delaware, District of Columbia Press Association for editorials about a County Council member accused of censoring public comments at meetings and the case of a teenager who was accused of hanging a nooseoutside a middle school.

Local politicians praised him for his professionalism.

“When I sat for my endorsement interviews in 2010, he made it clear to me it was to be earned and by no means was guaranteed,” former Anne Arundel County Councilman Jamie Benoit told the newspaper. “He asked tough questions and exposed every weakness in my legislative record. He treated council races like they were presidential races.”

Marquardt called him “a guy who could turn prose like anybody I’ve ever seen,” who “loved his position at the Capital.”

Fischman graduated from the University of Maryland in 1979.