The Rev. Thomas C. Reinecke, a former dry cleaner who earned a divinity degree and established the Sapphire Family Church in Oella, died June 5 of dementia at the Marriottsville home of a daughter. The former Catonsville resident was 90.

Thomas Carl Reinecke, the son of Carl Reinecke, a dry cleaner, and his wife, Lillian Reinecke, a stay-at-home parent, was born at home, the fourth of seven children, on Shady Nook Court in Catonsville.

After Mr. Reinecke’s graduation from Mount St. Joseph High School in Irvington in 1947, he joined his father, who had established Edmondson Dry Cleaners in 1929.

He also served from 1948 to 1956 with the Maryland National Guard’s 175th Infantry, discharged with the rank of master sergeant.

He had been taking college courses, and after his father fell ill, he took over operation of the business.

“He spent the first 37 years of his adult life in the cleaners, removing spots and stains from people’s garments,” a daughter, Tracey Reinecke-Kashima, of Marriottsville, wrote in her father’s eulogy.

“I have heard countless stories of the children, nieces and nephews and their time working in the cleaners,” she wrote. “Now, the Lord was going to prepare him to help clean people’s souls.”

Mr. Reinecke sold the business in 1984 and moved to Bradenton, Florida, where he completed his pastoral training at Christian Retreat. From 1988 to 1991, he was pastor of a small Christian fellowship community church in Palmetto, Florida.

In 1996, he and his wife, the former Phyllis Caughy, whom he married in 1951, moved back to Catonsville, where during the 1960s he had been named Catonsville citizen of the year.

In 1996, he founded the School of the Holy Spirit, a Christian training school, at St. Timothy’s Episcopal Church in Catonsville, which he operated for more than a decade.

“Literally, thousands of lives were touched, as they received prophetically spoken words of life and comfort through this school,” Ms. Reinecke-Kashima wrote.

Mr. Reinecke founded Sapphire Family Church, a nondenominational Christian fellowship church, on Westchester Avenue in Oella, where he was known as “Pastor Tom,” and continued preaching until 2016, when he stepped down for health reasons.

“While not a large congregation, Dad was committed to completing the work the Lord had for him,” his daughter wrote. “When the church numbers got low and the possibility of closing was discussed, he would respond, ‘If there’s one person that needs me, I will be there.’ A recurring theme in his life was faithfulness.”

During his career, he completed 20 missionary trips across the world and had visited Honduras numerous times, as well as India, Russia, Ukraine and Uganda.

“He was arrested with a few other missionaries in India in 1995 while on a missionary trip and praying for the sick to be healed,” his daughter wrote in an email. “He was charged with performing ‘magic’ and released later that night.”

Since 2010, Mr. Reinecke had lived in Marriottsville, enjoying spending time with his family and attending family gatherings. He also liked tennis, walking, and reading the Bible, his daughter said in a telephone interview.

Funeral services for Mr. Reinecke were held June 8 at New Hope Community Church in Catonsville.

In addition to his wife and daughter, Mr. Reinecke is survived by two sons, Thomas C. Reinecke Jr., of Knoxville, Tennessee, and Timothy C. Reiknecke, of Catonsville; two other daughters, Teresa A. McDade, of Catonsville, and Deborah A. Taylor, of Littlestown, Pennsylvania; four sisters, Lillian Hart, of Catonsville, Harriet Deegan, of Timonium, Maria Garvey, of Severna Park, and Mary Anita “Bobbie” Prestianni, of Ellicott City; 16 grandchildren; and 12 great-grandchildren.