Theodore J. Baroody Sr.

McGraw-Hill Executive, Charter Church Member


ALEXANDRIA, Va. - Theodore Joseph Baroody Sr., 96, husband of the late Sarah A. Baroody (née Ashooh), and former vice-president for contract administration for the McGraw Hill Companies, died on Sept. 29, 2015. He was a resident of Alexandria for 64 years, and of Goodwin House Alexandria for nearly six years.

Born on Feb. 19, 1919, in Manchester, N.H., to a Lebanese immigrant father, Charles H. Baroody, and a Lebanese-American mother, Victoria Hasney Baroody, Mr. Baroody lived in Alexandria since 1951. He attended Manchester Central High School, graduating in 1937. He served for 3.5 years in the U.S. Army during World War II, at Fort Benning; in Casablanca, Morocco; and in Florence, Italy. On May 20, 1950, he married Sarah Alice Ashooh, also of Manchester. He received his B.A. in business administration from George Washington University in 1960.

Before coming to the Washington, D.C., area, he worked as treasurer of the C. H. Baroody Co., the family-owned-and-operated grocers in Manchester. In Washington, he served as assistant comptroller at the Capital Radio Engineering Institute beginning in 1951, and then in several management positions with CREI and the McGraw Hill Companies, which subsumed the institute in 1968. He was named a vice president in the 1970s, and retired in 1982.

After being a parishioner at both Blessed Sacrament and St. Mary Roman Catholic churches in Alexandria during the 1950s and 1960s, in 1971, along with his wife, Mr. Baroody became a founding member of Holy Transfiguration Melkite Greek Catholic Church in McLean, where he served as treasurer for over 15 years. In 2005, on behalf of Gregory III Laham, Patriarch of Antioch, Archbishop Cyril Bustros, eparch of the Melkite Greek Catholic Church in the United States, presented Mr. Baroody with the Cross of Jerusalem, the highest honor to a layman in the Greek Catholic rite for distinguished service to the church. Throughout most of his retirement, Mr. Baroody also remained a faithful participant at weekday masses at Blessed Sacrament Roman Catholic Church.

For many years, Mr. Baroody volunteered his services as an accountant to the Carpenter's Shelter and The Washington House in Alexandria. His life of service and devotion to his immediate and extended family were an outward manifestation of his deep faith. He was well recognized and much loved for his modest self-estimation, playful sense of humor and inimitable personal touch with and compassion for others.

Mr. Baroody is survived by two daughters, Sarah Baroody (Mrs. Nathan) Tackett, of Lakeland, Fla., and Mary Baroody (Mrs. Jeffrey) Lowe, of Alexandria; a son, Theodore Joseph Baroody Jr., of Alexandria; two grandchildren, Sarah Elizabeth Lowe and Parker Ryan Lowe, of Alexandria; a sister, Lorraine T. Divacky, of Alexandria; a sister-in-law, Elsie B. Ashooh; and by an abundant number of cousins, nieces, and nephews.
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SERVICES: Visitation will be held on Tuesday, Oct. 6, from 5 to 8 p.m., with prayers at 6 p.m. and Trisagion service at 7 p.m., at Everly-Wheatley Funeral Home, 1500 West Braddock Road, Alexandria, VA 22302.

The funeral service will be held on Wednesday, Oct. 7, at 10:30 a.m., at Holy Transfiguration Melkite Greek Catholic Church, 8501 Lewinsville Road, McLean, VA 22102. Interment will follow at 2 p.m. at Ivy Hill Cemetery, 2823 King St., Alexandria, VA 22302.

Memorial contributions may be made in his name to Holy Transfiguration Melkite Greek Catholic Church or to any charity of the contributor's choice.

A guest register may be found at www.everlywheatley.com.