Copyright Baltimore Sun
Dr. Kenneth B. Lewis, a cardiologist, Chesapeake Bay conservationist and sport fishing advocate, died of complications from Parkinson’s disease Oct. 4 at the Broadmead retirement community in Cockeysville. The former Stoneleigh resident was 92. Born in Burlington, North Carolina, he was the son of Ken Lewis, a textile firm manager, and Alverna Baker Lewis, a homemaker. He earned degrees from Davidson College and the University of North Carolina School of Medicine. After an internship at the University of Florida in Gainesville, he came to Baltimore for a residency in obstetrics and gynecology at the Johns Hopkins Hospital, where he initially trained as a gynecologist before pursuing cardiology. While at Camp Seagull on the North Carolina coast, he met his future wife, Bonny Lynn Morgan. They married in 1956. He became a fellow in cardiology at Hopkins and, in 1965, became chief of cardiology at the old Baltimore City Hospitals, now Bayview Medical Center. He and a colleague, Dr. Robert Fischell of the Johns Hopkins Applied Physics Laboratory, collaborated to develop an early rechargeable pacemaker that used a lithium battery. Dr. Lewis also taught at the Johns Hopkins School of Medicine and was chair of the Department of Medicine at Franklin Square Hospital. In 1971, he and a colleague founded what became Chesapeake Cardiovascular Associates. He retired from medicine in 2000 and became an advocate and lobbyist for marine fisheries conservation. He promoted science-based, sustainable management of Maryland’s marine resources. He joined the Coastal Conservation Association of Maryland and chaired its Government Relations Committee. He was also active in the Maryland Saltwater Sportfishing Association’s Perry Hall chapter and the Oyster Advisory Commission. In 2017, he wrote to The Baltimore Sun saying the Maryland Board of Public Works “should decline to issue a wetlands license to the Department of Natural Resources to dredge buried oyster shell from Man-O-War Shoal in Baltimore County. This is the last large shoal or reef composed of very old buried oyster shell in the upper Chesapeake Bay.” “He spent many hours on the road to and from Annapolis to be present at legislative hearings, and he worked hard to educate legislators and the public about sustainable fisheries,” said his daughter, Lynn Lauerman. He, along with Sun outdoors columnist Lefty Kreh, received the 2020 Maryland Sport Fisheries Achievement Award. “He was a happy man when fly-fishing in rivers with his buddies or on the flats of Belize, or surf fishing on a North Carolina beach,” said his daughter. Dr. Lewis was a murder mystery reader and Center Stage subscriber. He enjoyed dinners at Tio Pepe and was a student of the Spanish language. He was also a birder. Survivors include a son, Ken Lewis Jr., of Seattle; a daughter, Lynn Lewis Lauerman, of San Diego; a sister, Lynda Sharpe, of Aiken, South Carolina; and four grandchildren. His wife of 67 years, Bonny Lynn Morgan Lewis, a former Hopkins genetics laboratory worker, died in 2024. A memorial service was held Oct. 25 at Broadmead.
