John B. Lein, Baltimore County Police colonel and GBMC security director, dies

Dan Belson, Baltimore Sun
·6 min read

John B. Lein, a former top-ranking Baltimore County Police official who later served as Greater Baltimore Medical Center’s security chief, died of pneumonia May 2 at Oak Crest Senior Living Center in Parkville. He was 90.

Mr. Lein, who became a county police officer in 1956, quickly climbed the ranks over the 21 years the eastern Baltimore County resident served in the department. He was the top scorer in the department’s first written promotional exam, and became the youngest sworn member of the force to serve as a major when he made the rank at 38 — as well as the youngest to hold the rank of colonel about four years later.

His sudden retirement from the third-highest county police post in 1977 to work at the hospital in Towson intensified already-growing concerns about the leadership abilities of then-Police Chief Joseph R. Gallen, who would end up submitting his own resignation a week later following pressure from state and county leaders.

Mr. Lein had already become a major by the time Mr. Gallen was appointed as chief, and Mr. Lein was chosen to serve in the new administration’s top brass soon after. Men like Mr. Lein had “trained a lot of good people” in the department, the embattled chief told The Evening Sun in 1977 when asked about filling Mr. Lein’s post.

One of eight children, John Bernard Lein was born in Rossville to George Lein, who worked for Baltimore County’s highway department, and the former Frances Hirsch, a homemaker who was active in Rosedale-area social clubs. The young Mr. Lein played baseball and soccer at Kenwood High School, where he graduated in 1951.

Two years later, Mr. Lein married the former Gloria Lee Kroner, who would become his wife of more than 70 years. Mr. Lein was drafted into the Army a few months later, and was stationed stateside for two years during the Korean War.

He joined the county police department shortly after his military service and subsequent return to the Baltimore area. Mr. Lein became a corporal after achieving the top score during the department’s first written promotional examination in 1961.

Robert Gutermuth, a longtime friend who served alongside Mr. Lein in the county police force, was later a top scorer as well. He remembered Mr. Lein turning to him afterward.

“He said, ‘I guess us lower-enders aren’t that dumb after all,'” using a colloquial term for people in the police department’s east-side precincts. “We got a big chuckle out of that.”

Mr. Lein climbed the ranks in the county police department’s patrol division for 10 years and received a bureau commendation for his work in a homicide case before being named a captain in the services division in 1967.

Furthering his education during his work, Mr. Lein received a law enforcement degree from Essex Community College, where he would later serve on a committee guiding the institution’s criminal justice curriculum.

Mr. Lein continued to receive promotions, working at the department’s Towson headquarters and becoming the agency’s administrative colonel. As the third-ranking officer in the department, Mr. Lein was responsible for all administration, departmental records, training and police education.

As Mr. Lein “shot up the ranks,” he never forgot where he came from, Mr. Gutermuth said.

“He always hung around with the guys he came up with,” Mr. Gutermuth said, describing Mr. Lein as a “very, very nice man” and a “pretty sharp” officer.

Relations between the department’s new chief and its rank-and-file members, though, became strained around that time. In early 1977, the county Fraternal Order of Police chapter alleged mismanagement by Mr. Gallen and called for then-County Executive Theodore G. Venetoulis’ administration to replace the chief, who had been appointed two years prior.

Though Mr. Venetoulis initially declined to do so, the sudden retirements of Mr. Lein and the head of the county police department’s Criminal Investigations Division just a few months later proved to be the final straw.

Tensions between Baltimore County leaders and Mr. Gallen began to boil over later that year after Maj. Raymond Donovan, the investigations official, cited the chief as his reason for retiring. Though Mr. Lein, who had been hired for the security role at GBMC, did not publicly state a reason for his resignation shortly after Mr. Donovan’s, his retirement prompted a county review of its police department as well as demands for Mr. Gallen to resign from his post “because of an evident inability to muster the support of his officers,” The Evening Sun reported at the time.

The newspaper noted that an auditor found that nearly 100 officers, with an average age of 44, had retired since Mr. Gallen took charge in 1975.

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Then-State Sen. John C. Coolahan said that the retirements of Mr. Donovan and Mr. Lein, whom he described as highly regarded members of the force, brought the “whole tragic episode into focus.” Mr. Gallen submitted his resignation several days later, though he remained chief until a replacement, Cornelius J. “Neil” Behan, was chosen.

Mr. Lein served in his position as director of safety and security at GBMC for a decade before retiring from full-time work in the late 1980s.

He and his wife raised two daughters, Debi and Bonita. The family resided in Parkville as well as Essex for some time. The couple later moved to Harford County, following their daughters, who had moved there as adults.

During his retirement, Mr. Lein enjoyed playing golf, hunting and crabbing with his friends, a crew consisting mostly of retired police officers, said his older daughter, Debi Volmar.

“They would go out [to Pennsylvania] and make a whole day of it,” she said. But as Mr. Lein often said, he was most proud of his family and was at his happiest spending time with them.

Mr. Lein and his wife were longtime members of Trinity Evangelical Lutheran Church in Joppa. He was a Freemason for over 50 years, belonging to the Mt. Nebo Masonic Lodge and the Scottish Rite. He was also a life member of both the Maryland Law Enforcement Officers Association and the Baltimore County Retired Officers Association.

Funeral services for Mr. Lein were held earlier this month at McComas Funeral Home in Abingdon.

In addition to Ms. Lein and Ms. Volmar, Mr. Lein is survived by his other daughter, Bonnie Southerland, of Bel Air, as well as six grandchildren and 12 great-grandchildren. He was preceded in death by his siblings.