"William Lloyd Adams"{1914-July 4,2011}

Arrived in Baltimore in 1929,when he moved in with an uncle & aunt on North Bond Street.He attended Dunbar High School for a time.During the Depression,he worked in a rag factory,delivered newspapers

repaired bicycles and operated a shoeshine parlor.He earned a reputation shrewness when it came to handling and saving money,virtues that would serve well later in life. At 16,he became a   
low-level runner for an illegal lottery operation.William hinself became a numbers boss.By the 1930s William was proprietor of Little Willie's Tavern at Druid Hill Avenue & Whitelock Street.in 1935 he married Victorine Quille,who had been a city educator before entering politics.Philadelphia gangsters,according to newspaper account at the time,bombed the tavern in 1938,allegedly.His wealth was grounded in the illegal lotteries that he operated.William once boasted he handled $1,000 a day $8,000 in today's money in illegal lottery operations.In 1940,William added to his ever-expanding business interest when founded Adams Realty Brokers in the 1500 block of Pennsylvania Ave.Also during that time,William brought Henry G.Parks Jr to Baltimore and the two men bought into a Cleveland sausage firm.The men disagreed on expansion strategy with the majority owner,and Mr. Parks and Mr.Adams' financial help,moved to Baltimore,where he established Parks Sausage Company.He attended night classes Douglass High School,from which he earned a diploma in 1950.He later studied at the Cortez Peters Business School and took night courses at Morgan State University and the McCoy College at the John Hopkins University.After being subponed in 1951 by to testify at a closed-door hearing of the U.S. Senate's Kefauver Committee on organized,crime,William explained that he had retired from the numbers business earlier that year.In 1951,he was indicted by a grand jury in Baltimore in a numbers conspiracy and was convicted.The Supreme Court overturned his conviction in 1954 on the basis that he had testified before the Senate committee under a grant of immunity and his testimony could be used against him in any criminal court.In 1969,the company became one of the first African-American owned companies to trade publicly on Wall Street.William bankrolled Super Pride supermarkets,which was headed by Charlie Burns, a cousin of Thurgood Marshall.African-American men who turned to William for financial help had to agree to the condition that would have a 51 percent stake in the business,no matter how small his personal investment.His apparent Midas touch did not extend to everything in which he invested.William join his friend,boxing legend Joe Louis,in creating a soft drink,Joe Louis Punch.It failed miserably.When the Maryland State Lottery was established in 1973,William was hired as a consultant.In the 1970s he brought Theo C.Rodgers to Baltimore to work for Parks Sausage."When we sold the company in 1977,we formed A&R [Adams & Rodgers] Development Corp.," said Theo."Willie had a profound impact inside and outside of Baltimore.There is not an African American business in Baltimore that he did not fiancé."In 1980,William was charged with operating a $ 5 million-a year numbers operation.He was found not guilty in 1984 in Baltimore Circuit Court.Theo helped him and his wife establish the William L.& Victoria Q.Adams foundation, which helped city students who to attend college and study business.William other philanthropic interests included the NAACP,the United Negro College Fund,Liberty Fund Center,the YMCA,the Jewish National Fund and St.Francis Academy.William and his wife,who died in 2006,lived for years in a house in Hanlon Park,near Lake Ashburton.For eight years he had lived at Roland Park Place.In 2010 he wrote his book,"Not in My Neighborhood:How Bigotry shaped a Great American City."William died from pheumonia at Roland Park Place.Surviving are a daughter,Gertrude Venable of Emmitisburg;and a granddaughter, Trudy Venable of Dallas.