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Retired Engineer Ed Hawkins Dies, Age 90

He engineered and managed stations, built facilities and worked for Harris and Data World

Headshot of Ed HawkinsEd Hawkins Jr. died in April. A retired radio engineer, his career also included work as a station general manager and broadcast equipment salesman.

According to the website of Lassahn Funeral Homes, Hawkins passed on April 12 at the age of 90.

The Baltimore Sun has published a more detailed obituary. It notes that Samuel Edward Hawkins Jr. repaired radios and TVs as a youth and studied engineering and electronics in the Navy. He was assigned to the Naval Submarine Base New London in Groton, Conn. He also trained at the Baltimore Polytechnic Institute, where he later taught.

In 1955 he joined Baltimore station WITH (today’s WRBS), managing its FM operation and maintaining the transmitter and audio equipment. He later worked at the station’s downtown studio and became chief engineer for the AM and FM stations, and eventually became GM, leading facility rebuilds and the addition of stereo.

The Sun reports that in the 1970s, Hawkins launched Broadcast Services Company, which led the construction of high school station WKHS on the Eastern Shore of Maryland and rebuilt the facilities of WBJC(FM) in Baltimore.

In 1980, Hawkins went to work selling equipment for Harris Corp. and eventually became manager of government/consultant relations for Harris Allied Broadcast Division. He also had corporate roles with CompUSA, mapping company Data World and Reeves Telecom Co. He was a longtime member of the Society of Broadcast Engineers.

In 2002, he and his wife Hilda joined the Baltimore Museum of Industry as docents, where he lectured on broadcasting and the garment industry.

Read the Sun obituary.

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