James S. “Jimmy” Watson, one of three brothers who founded and owned Watson’s Garden Center in Lutherville, died of heart disease Feb. 23 at Gilchrist Center Towson. He was a week shy of his 90th birthday.

Born at home in Towson, he was the son of Maurice Watson, a Chesapeake and Potomac Telephone manager, and Elizabeth Cross, a homemaker. He attended Immaculate Conception School and was a 1953 graduate of Towson Catholic High School, where he was captain of the Owls’ basketball team. He enlisted in the Marine Corps and trained at camps Lejeune and Pendleton.

While in service, Mr. Watson and his fellow members of the 4.2 mortar company appeared in the Warner Brothers film “Battle Cry,” which starred Aldo Ray and Van Heflin.

“They had to run up and down a mountain in the mud,” said his daughter Christina Watson. “He was proud of being a Marine and serving in that mortar company.”

He later served in Korea during the Korean War.

Mr. Watson met his future wife, Joan Mays, in the second grade. They married in 1956.

After leaving the military, he joined his brothers Joseph “Joe” Watson and Robert “Bobby” Watson in a garden center they founded on Chesapeake Avenue in Towson. In a few years, they moved to the corner of Bellona Avenue and York Road, where the three ran the business for decades. It closed in 2018.

“They fixed lawnmowers when everybody had a lawn,” said his daughter. “Then they started a Christmas shop that featured a live reindeer. That was a brilliant marketing idea from my Uncle Joe. Children came year after year.”

Mr. Watson was popular with his customers.

“My father had a big personality. He was gregarious and he had a good memory for names,” Christina Watson said. “He made a lot of friends for the business.”

She said her father handled the firm’s finances and ran its Christmas shop.

“Lights were a big business and he ordered them like crazy,” his daughter said. “We competed with Stebbins Anderson and Valley View Farms. We were all friendly and if we didn’t have one item we sent the customer to the other store. The businesses overlapped, but each had a niche.”

Mr. Watson and his brothers sold the business to a cousin.

Mr. Watson was a past president of the Leukemia & Lymphoma Society. He also had partial ownership of the Baltimore Skipjacks minor league hockey team. He moved to Ocean Reef Club in Key Largo, Florida, where he played golf daily. He was president of the condominium association and appeared in the Ocean Reef Follies.

A funeral Mass will be held at 10 a.m. March 15 at the Church of the Immaculate Conception at 200 Ware Ave. in Towson.

Survivors include his three daughters, Roberta “Bobbie” Watson, of Ocean Reef, Christina Watson, of Towson, Jamie Watson, of Fallston; a son, Michael Watson, of Ocean Reef; and two grandchildren. His wife of 63 years, Joan Mays Watson, died in 2019. A daughter, Elizabeth Watson, died in 2015.

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