George F. Savage III, a longtime insurance executive who later became a life coach, died Friday of cancer at his Ellicott City home. He was 68.

The son of George F. Savage II, who worked for a china and glass manufacturing company, and Gloria Taylor Savage, a city public schools educator, George Franklin Savage III was born in Baltimore and raised in Gilmor Homes in Sandtown-Winchester.

His parents divorced when he was 10 years old, and he took several jobs to help supplement the family's income.

After graduating in 1966 from Edmondson High School, he attended Baltimore City Community College and what is now Morgan State University.

While working in the college library, he met Dorothy Johnston. They married in 1968.

Mr. Savage began a career in the insurance industry in 1969 as an agent with Penn Mutual Insurance Co. He did not own a car then and relied on public transportation to get to his clients, family members said.

He later worked for the Washington National Insurance Co., then established GFS Insurance Agency in 1977.

“Due to his passion for helping others, his services expanded to financial advising, mortgage brokering and pre-need burial arrangements,” his daughter, Ericka S. Harris of Randallstown, wrote in an email sketch of her father.

“He never really retired. In his later years, he continued to help people by being a life coach,” she wrote.

Mr. Savage was diagnosed with cancer in 2002, and “through it all, he never gave up hope,” Ms. Harris wrote.

She said her father's main hobby was “talking to people. He loved talking to all kinds of diverse people.”

A longtime Ellicott City resident, Mr. Savage was fan of the Baltimore Orioles and Ravens. He enjoyed spending time with his family, particularly holidays.

He had been a member of New Shiloh Baptist Church and served there as a deacon. He later became a member of Macedonia Baptist Church.

Funeral services will be held at 11 a.m. Friday at New Antioch Baptist Church, 5609 Old Court Road, Randallstown.

In addition to his daughter, Mr. Savage is survived by his wife of 48 years; a son, George F. Savage IV of Randallstown; two sisters, Darlene Davis of Irvington and Lynette Clark of Northeast Baltimore; and four grandchildren.

— Frederick N. Rasmussen