Robert C. Embry

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President
Abell Foundation

Born and raised in Baltimore, Robert C. Embry graduated from Baltimore City College High School, Williams College and Harvard Law School.

After Harvard, he seemed headed for a career in the foreign service, but he wound up dedicating dedicated much of his adult life to making the city – and often the entire state – a better place to live.

Embry is best known in Maryland as president of the Abell Foundation, which provides grants to improve the lives of Baltimore residents, since 1986. But his work, often behind the scenes, dates back to the mid-1960s.

While working as a tax lawyer for a law firm in Baltimore, Embry won the 3rd District City Council seat in 1967, and he was also named a member of the Baltimore City Planning Commission. A year later, he moved behind the scenes as the first commissioner of the Department of Housing and Community Development for Baltimore.

Under two mayors, Thomas D’Alesandro III and William Donald Schaefer, Embry has been credited as the key to developing many projects, including the National Aquarium, the Maryland Science Center and the subway system. He was also instrumental in revitalizing neighborhoods such as Otterbein and Ridgely’s Delight.

In 1977, he took his urban planning expertise to Washington as President Jimmy Carter’s assistant secretary of the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development for Community Planning and Development.

Since assuming the presidency of the Abell Foundation, Embry has held leadership roles on numerous boards, including a five-year term as president of the Maryland State Board of Education.

This profile is part of The Daily Record's Power 100 List for 2023-2024. Information used in this profile was sourced from the honoree. See the full list at origintdrdev.wpengine.com.