Charles F. Hughes Jr., former president of the family-owned Vane Brothers Co. that has been a maritime presence in the port of Baltimore since the 19th century, died May 3 of complications from dementia at his Roland Park Place home.

He was 89.

“Charles Hughes was the epitome of a perfect gentleman, as well as a smart businessman. He was always soft-toned and never raised his voice and directly moved forward in developing ... Vane Brothers to the extent it is today,” said Helen Delich Bentley, former Republican congresswoman and chairwoman of the Federal Maritime Commission.

“He worked closely with his son Duff, and he was proud when Duff took over as president and continued the expansion that he had begun,” Mrs. Bentley said.

“I always say there aren't too many gentleman on the waterfront, but he was one of them,” said his son, C. Duff Hughes, who joined the company in 1980 and has been president since 1991. “He grew up in the business and took its heritage seriously. I learned a great deal from my grandfather and father about this business.”

The son of Charles F. Hughes Sr. and Aleda Pauline Taylor, Charles Fletcher Hughes Jr. was born in Baltimore and raised on Weaver Avenue in Hamilton.

Mr. Hughes attended Polytechnic Institute and graduated in 1946 from the Bullis School in Potomac. He served in the Navy in 1946-1947.

After earning a bachelor's degree in 1951 from the Johns Hopkins University, he joined his family's chandlery — a company providing equipment and supplies to ships — which was then located on Pratt Street.

The chandlery had been founded in 1898 by two ex-captains, brothers William Burke Vane and Allen P. Vane, in a two-story brick building at Broadway and Thames Street in Fells Point.

In 1910, it relocated to 602-604 E. Pratt St. across from Pier 4, then also known as Long Pier.

Capt. Claude Venables Hughes and Charles Fletcher Hughes Sr., distant Eastern Shore cousins of the Vanes, became associated with the business, which sold provisions to vessels that called at Baltimore.

They took over the business in 1941 after the last Vane member died. Charles F. Hughes Sr. became head of the company after his brother retired in 1949. He died in 1982.

In 1958, Mr. Hughes and his father moved the company to the foot of Broadway, where it remained until 1987. At that time, it relocated to Pier 11 in Canton, which had been a former United States Lines pier.

Mr. Hughes took over as president of the company in 1960, and during his tenure it became a full marine services company that offers bunkering, cargo transfers, launch services and marine transportation.

Its fleet of green, white and blue tugboats also moves petroleum products by tank barges from New England to the Gulf of Mexico.

“By the mid-1980s, we were wrapping up the chandlery business and the emphasis was on marine transportation. Today, we have a combination of 150 tugs and barges and we have 1,000 employees,” his son said. “We have offices in Philadelphia, New York, Savannah, Charleston and Jacksonville. We're in the Gulf of Mexico, Puerto Rico, the Caribbean, and we're going into Cuba.”

Since 2005, Vane Brothers has concentrated its operations at Frankfurst Avenue in Fairfield.

Mr. Hughes was known for his hands-on approach in a business that operates year- round and around the clock, in fair weather and foul.

“He appreciated his employees and spent a lot of time on the boats having coffee with the guys and asking what he could do for them,” his son said. “If a truck rolled up loaded with coils of rope, here was this guy in a coat and tie helping to unload it.”

Mr. Hughes recalled working in the wee hours on a cold winter's night when his father showed up.

“It was 2 a.m., and we were refueling a ship on a cold night. Suddenly, down comes a heaving line with a big bag of food from my father,” his son recalled. “He had stopped at Jimmy's to get food for the guys. He really took care of his people.”

Mr. Hughes, who had lived for 42 years on Woodlawn Road in Roland Park, was chairman of the Vane Brothers board at the time of his 1991 retirement.

“I married the Vane Brothers,” said his wife of 64 years, the former Elizabeth Anne “Betsy” Smith, who is vice president of the company. “He loved the port of Baltimore and all things maritime.”

Many of the company's tugs are named for family members — such as the Elizabeth Anne — but others are named for Maryland and New York rivers. Some of the tugs the line operates include the Potomac, Patapsco, Anacostia, Bohemia, Hudson and Long Island.

Mr. Hughes had been active in the Maryland Port Administration's Public Sector Committee and had been a director of the U.S.F. Constellation Foundation and the Maryland State Board of Docking Masters.

He was also a past president of the Delmarva Water Transport Association and served as a member of the board of the Baltimore Maritime Exchange.

Other professional memberships included the Baltimore Propeller Club, East Baltimore Chamber of Commerce, Chesapeake Bay Maritime Museum, U.S. Maritime Safety Association, Deep Draft Lube Oil Association, Philadelphia Maritime Exchange and the American Waterways Operators Association.

Mr. Hughes and his wife moved to Roland Park Place in 2004.

Mr. Hughes was a dog lover and favored Doberman pinschers. He was also an avid tennis player, his wife said.

He had been an active communicant of St. David's Episcopal Church in Roland Park.

Services are private.

In addition to his wife and son, who lives in Cockeysville, Mr. Hughes is survived by a daughter, Anne Hughes DeCamps of Richmond, Va.; and eight grandchildren.

frasmussen@baltsun.com