Cooper G. Savage

Cooper G. Savage, an environmentalist and outdoorsman, died Aug. 30 of respiratory distress at his home in Washburn, Maine. The former longtime Towson resident was 47.

“Whenever I think of Cooper, I think of a person who had kindness in his heart and was friendly to everyone,” said a cousin, Peter G. Savage.

Cooper Garthwaite Savage, son of Frederick G. Savage, former senior attorney and deputy general counsel at the Johns Hopkins University, and Mary Catherine Savage, a former Mercantile Bank lawyer, was born in Baltimore and raised on University Parkway.

As a student at Gilman School, Mr. Savage played varsity baseball and, as a member of the intramural football team, set the record for most touchdown receptions in a single game.

An honor roll student, he graduated from Gilman in 1995 and began college at Vanderbilt University.

“In the middle of his junior year, he called home one Sunday night and told his parents he had been hearing voices in his head and was going to a psychiatric hospital,” his father wrote in a biographical profile.

He returned to Baltimore and began “a long and difficult journey” with schizophrenia, his father said.

Despite his illness, Mr. Savage earned his bachelor’s degree in 2001 from the University of Maryland, Baltimore County, and while coping with his illness, worked at a variety of part-time jobs.

In 2010, he went to work full-time for the Maryland Department of Assessments and Taxation, where he was responsible for maintaining corporate filings.

He later left the department and earned a master’s degree in environmental studies from Towson University, writing his thesis on the significance of the pagoda in Patterson Park.

“Although he hoped for a permanent job in the field of his studies, he worked for many years in warehouses and on road crews,” his father wrote. “Whatever the job, he was always a hard and conscientious worker.”

In 2002, he met Patricia Yeager, a professional caregiver.

The couple, who shared an affection for cats, dogs, flea markets, Artscape, fairs and travel, married in 2009.

They lived in Towson for many years before moving to Shippensburg, Pennsylvania, and finally, three years ago, to their home near Presque Isle, Maine.

“Cooper loved the peace and beauty of Northern Maine, the rolling hills with long vistas of farmlands and forests,” his father wrote.

He had learned how to fly-fish when he was a child and enjoyed the sport with his father.

A guitarist, his musical tastes ranged from classical music to pop rock and country music, and he was a huge fan of Phish, attending their concerts from Maine to Florida.

“We both shared a passion for Phish, and he’d reach out to me about a concert, and I’d say sure, let’s go,” his cousin recalled. “Then I wouldn’t hear from him until receiving a text saying, ‘I’m here!’”

Despite his personal struggles, he never gave up hoping and trying to live a normal life, his father said in a telephone interview.

“He was a very nostalgic person and liked collecting family photographs, many of which we had never seen before,” his cousin said.

His marriage ended in divorce in 2020.

“Even though they were divorced, they still stayed together and were devoted to each other,” his father said.

Plans for a memorial service to be held in October at the Episcopal Church of the Redeemer are incomplete.

In addition to his parents, of North Roland Park, his former wife and his cousin, Mr. Savage is survived by his brother, Graham Savage, of Towson; three uncles; three nieces; and two other cousins.