Edwin Hale Sr

The college dropout, who said he survived three plane crashes and now owns a professional indoor soccer team, first made the disclosure last year in a biography he commissioned that asks, “The most interesting man in the world?” on the dust jacket and features blurbs from Ben Cardin and Barbara Mikulski, the Democratic senators from Maryland. Not everyone was pleased that Mr. Hale decided to go public, including the man who Mr. Hale said recruited him to the agency in 1992. “I am disappointed and upset that Ed would violate his agreement and understanding with the agency,” said A.B. “Buzzy” Krongard in a phone interview. Mr. Hale, who grew up outside of Baltimore, made most of his fortune through trucking and barge companies that he founded as well as from real-estate development. He said he got involved in banking after he was turned down by Bank of Baltimore for a loan and became incensed by what he called its “snooty blue-blood culture.” Mr. Hale at a friend’s request said he spent $1.4 million to launch a proxy fight in 1991 that garnered him a seat on the board and the title of chief executive. Mr. Hale said his work with the agency stopped after the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks and he wasn’t needed anymore. He still keeps in touch with two of the agents, he said. Mr. Hale’s banking days are also over. In 1994, he and the board sold the Bank of Baltimore on to a New Jersey bank. In May 1995, he founded First Mariner Bancorp, holding company for 1st Mariner Bank, a Baltimore-based community bank. Mr. Hale currently focuses on his real-estate investments and the indoor-soccer team he owns, the Baltimore Blast. EDWIN F. HALE, SR., is Chairman and Chief Executive Officer of First Mariner Bancorp. Mr. Hale purchased controlling interest in the company in January 1995. He is the former Chairman of the Board and CEO of Baltimore Bancorp, a major commercial bank in the Baltimore/Washington, DC, area. Mr. Hale was elected Chairman in September 1991, following a successful proxy contest launched by the Baltimore Bancorp Stockholders Committee, a shareholders group of which he was a member. Mr. Hale is Chairman and CEO of Hale Intemodal Trucking Co., Inc., and Hale Trans, Inc., private Baltimore-based trucking and shipping companies, which he founded in Baltimore. Mr. Hale began his business career in 1968 with Atco Trailer Rentals. Originally hired as a clerk, he worked his way up to Vice President. In 1975, he resigned to begin Port East Transfer. Mr. Hale is involved in a number of joint ventures and other private investments including apartment complexes throughout the United States, and various industrial and commercial real estate ventures. He attended Essex Community College in Baltimore and the American International College in Springfield, Massachusetts. He served two years in the United States Air Force (Strategic Air Command) as a Medic.