Alfred James O’Ferrall, III
BERLIN — Alfred James O’Ferrall, III died on April 20, 2020.
Better known as Mickey, he was born on Jan. 5, 1933, the son of Alfred James O’Ferrall, Jr and Elizabeth Woodward Cook O’Ferrall.
Mickey grew up in Ten HIlls and attended St. Bernadines, played football and lacrosse at Mt. St. Joseph High School (Class of 1950) and at Johns Hopkins University, (Class of 1955). He was commissioned Second Lieutenant under the R.O.T.C. program at Hopkins and served from March, 1956 through March, 1958 as an anti-aircraft artillery officer (NIKE). He was honorably discharged in 1963. When he returned from the service, he attended the University of Baltimore School of Law in the evening, working at the family law firm O’Ferrall and O’Ferrall during the day. Mickey was a third-generation lawyer in the firm started by his grandfather, Alfred, Sr and his brother, John; then Mickey’s father and his brother Jack.
From June, 1962 until February, 1965, Mickey was an Assistant State’s Attorney for Baltimore City. From June, 1966 until November, 1971, he served as an Assistant Attorney General for the State of Maryland. He was proud of the fact that during this time he submitted four cases to the Supreme Court of the United States, two appearing before the esteemed court and two written briefs and won all four. During this time he also prepared Bills for the Maryland Legislature, two that interested him the most was a revision of the Maryland Law concerning incarceration of individuals who were unable to pay fines or costs; and the creation of the Inmate Grievance Commission.
On November 25,1971, Alan H. Murrell, the newly appointed Public Defender for the State of Maryland appointed Mickey to be the “first” Public Defender for District #1, Baltimore City. For the last 5 weeks of 1971, Mickey, Joseph Touhey (Anne Arundel County) and Alan Murrell, put together the first statewide Public Defender System in the Country. There were cities in other states with Public Defender Systems, but none statewide. In April, 1973, Alan appointed Mickey as Deputy Public Defender for the State of Maryland and he continued in this capacity until 1991.
Mickey was actively involved in Boy Scout Troop 1000 at Cathedral School, teaching cooking and even going on camping trips, not a fan of the camping but loved to cook. Known for his cooking he was raffled off to cook dinner in the winner’s home several times to raise money for various organizations. He also chaired the after school athletic program and coached lacrosse and soccer, served on the Parish Council and was Head Chef of the Pancake Breakfast for 13 years.
He was a Lecturer/Assistant Professor of Law at Villa Julie College for 15 years and a member of the faculty at Dundalk Community College in their Legal Assistant Program from September of 1977 until June of 1983.
In September of 1991, Mickey moved to the Eastern Shore and was an Assistant Public Defender in the Salisbury office and then moved to the Snow Hill office and retired from there at age 65 in 1998. Joel Todd, then-State’s Attorney for Worcester County, invited Mickey to join the office briefly in 1997 and Mickey retired from there in 2015 at the age of 82. Mickey loved the law, he researched it, read it and worked at it since he was a little child going to work with his father.
Mickey also loved lacrosse and football, he bled Hopkins Blue. So much so he wanted a few of his ashes to be spread at the goal posts on Homewood field. That is until his son, David, pointed out that it is artificial turf now and they would just vacuum him up. His love of lacrosse followed him to the Eastern Shore where he enjoyed the Beach Lacrosse program and following Stephen Decatur’s High School team, whom his grandson, Josh played and his granddaughter Ciara.
Another endearing name he was known by was Kiki. His eldest grandchild, Joshua, dubbed him that at an early age for the inability to say Mickey.
Mr. O’Ferrall was a larger than life man in size and personality, but he had a soft spot for his grandchildren. There wasn’t a piece of lacrosse equipment not needed for his grandson Josh or his granddaughter Ciara, nor were there too many American Girl dolls for his granddaughters Ciara and Grace.
Mickey is survived by his wife of 58 years, Sandra Lee O’Ferrall, nee Brinker; his dearly loved children, David Michael O’Ferrall (Kristin) and Michelle Elizabeth O’Ferrall; and his adored grandchildren, Joshua Patrick O’Ferrall, Ciara J Thumma and Grace Elizabeth O’Ferrall.
Mickey is also survived by his sister, Retired Judge M. Kathleen O’Ferrall Friedman of Baltimore. He was preceded in death by brother Joseph Michael O’Ferrall and sister Elizabeth Marie O’Ferrall Knight.
A memorial will be celebrated at a later date due to the pandemic.