James ‘Jay’ Alban III, president of Alban Tractor Co. and deep-sea fisherman, dies

Dillon Mullan, Baltimore Sun
·3 min read

James “Jay” Alban III, former president of his family’s tractor company and a deep-sea fisherman, died of congestive heart failure March 5 at The Lakeside, an assisted living facility in Amelia Island, Florida. He was 83.

Mr. Alban was born in Baltimore to James Alban Jr., who owned the Baltimore-based Alban Tractor Co., and Madeleine Alban, a homemaker.

Mr. Alban grew up on Bellemore Road in North Baltimore along with his younger sister and remembered the entire North Roland Park/Poplar Hill neighborhood coming over to watch his family’s television for the Baltimore Colts’ famous victory over the New York Giants in the 1958 NFL championship game. Friends always called him Jay.

Mr. Alban played lacrosse at the McDonogh School in Owings Mills when it was still an all-boys military academy, and graduated in 1960. Mr. Alban enlisted in the Marine Corps in 1961 and was on active duty for a year on Parris Island, South Carolina, before serving in the reserves until 1967.

“He was kind of a tough guy with a soft inside I would say,” said son Jamie Alban, also a lacrosse player-turned-Marine. “I think his time at the military school had a big impact on his decision to join the Marines.”

In 1927, Mr. Alban’s great-grandfather started the Alban Tractor Co. on 25th Street in Baltimore. It grew from selling tractors to area farmers to selling Caterpillar machinery and construction equipment across the region, and moved its headquarters to Pulaski Highway in Rosedale in 1947. Mr. Alban worked every job in the company, starting as a mechanic in 1963, rising to salesman and taking over as president in 1983 until his retirement in 1998. His son said he sold the family business in 2020 to Salem, Virginia-based Carter Machinery.

“They started out selling tractors to local farmers but then after World War II, with the expansion of federal highways, the business really took off selling construction equipment,” Jamie Alban said.

Mr. Alban’s first marriage to the former Carolyn Campbell ended in divorce in 1977. He married Dottie Gregoski, whom he met in Ocean City, in 1979 in Baltimore.

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Outside work, Mr. Alban endowed a scholarship for students to attend private Catholic high schools. He was on the board of First National Bank, Franklin Square Hospital, the Baltimore Community Foundation, the Boys’ Latin School, Catholic Charities and the Maryland Historical Society.

Mr. Alban was happiest on the water.

He won the White Marlin Open in 1975 and took author James Michener fishing in the Chesapeake Bay and off Ocean City while Michener was researching his book “Chesapeake.” He lived in North Baltimore and Cockeysville, vacationed in Ocean City and moved to Palm Beach, Florida, in retirement.

“He liked the challenge of it and of course just being on the water,” Jamie Alban said.

He is survived by his wife of 45 years, Dottie Alban; his sister, Lynn Homes, of Palm Beach, Florida; his children, Jamie Alban, of Cockeysville, Taber Frederick and Nick Alban, both of Amelia Island; 13 grandchildren; and eight great-grandchildren.

“He had a really terrific individual relationship with each one of his grandchildren and was close to each one in a unique way,” Jamie Alban said.