Maurice Blum

With Chesapeake Squares at Explode The Rose, 1987

Maurice Dalton Blum
27 Jul 1925 - 04 Aug 1991

Clubs & Associations

Obituary

Maurice Blum
Maurice Dalton Blum, a longtime District of Columbia resident and former president of the the local Gay square dance group Lambda Squares, died on Sunday, August 4, 1991, at the Washington Home and Hospice, of esophegeal cancer. He was 66.

A native of San Francisco, Blum graduated from the University of California at Los Angeles in 1946 with a bachelor of science degree in engineering. He served in the U.S. Navy during World War , and was stationed in Hawaii and Alaska, among other places. He moved to D.C> in 1955, to work as a meteorologist for the National Weather Service. In 1958, he was employed as an interior decorator at the interior design firm of John Greer, until 1978, when he went into business for himself, founding his own company, Interior Design Consultants (I.D.C.) Corporation.

He served as two-term president of Lambda Squares, from 1985 to 1989. Among his accomplishments, said close friend Tom Pearson of D.C. were getting the club selected to host the 1994 convention of the International Association of Gay Square Dance Clubs, and, in 198, helping found Chesapeake Squares, a Baltimore, Md., Gay square dance group.

Blum "loved to dance," Pearson said. An accomplished dancer, he was proficient in a variety of styles of dance, including ballroom dancing and country and western dancing. Blum was "the most enthusiastic and staunch supporter of the group," said the current president of Lambda Squares, Larry Perrin.

Blum also served as president of the Georgetown Workshop Theater, a community theater group, from 1982 to 1983, and served on its board of directors from 1984 to 1985 and again from 1990. Other memberships included the Arts Club of Washington and the American Society of Interior Designers.

Pearson said Blum was "a real opera buff," and also loved playing backgammon and croquet and knitting.

Survivors include his mother. Juliette Blum of San Francisco.

Blum's remains were cremated on Aug. 5, and the ashes will be scattered at a later date. A memorial service is scheduled to be held on Thursday, Aug. 22, at 5:30 p.m., at the Washington Hospice, 3720 Upton Street, N.W. In lieu of flowers, contributions in his name may be made to the Hospice of Washington. 3720 Upton Street, N.W., Washington, D.C. 20016.^[1]

Remembrances

MAURY BLUM was a founding member of the DC Lambda Squares. He was dancing and organizing when there was barely a square in 1983. He was our “most enthusiastic and staunch supporter” when the club was forming into who we are today. During his two terms as President of the Board—1985 to 1989–he was instrumental in:

Helping relocate the club from the Maryland suburbs into downtown DC.
Organizing dancing and exhibiting at DC Pride Events and other gay venues.
Assisting in formulating the DCLS’s first club bylaws.
Promoting and organizing teams of DCLS dancers in 1986 to carpool regularly into Baltimore to angel at dances and support the forming of the Chesapeake Squares.
Tirelessly lobbying our club dancers and the IAGSDC member clubs for years to win the honor for DCLS to host the 1994 IADSDC Convention in Washington D.C.

Maury was an avid dancer his whole life. He was proficient in all styles from ballroom dancing and jitterbug to country/western and square. He was always ready to invite you out onto the floor for a grand right-and left or a breezy Viennese waltz.

Maury loved to dress-up for for his dancing too. He wore snazzy tuxedos to Gay ballroom dances and full-blown cowboy hats and duds to square dance and country/western events—sporting turquoise and silver bolo ties and belt buckles. He was famous for decorating bandanas with intricate rhinestone patterns for his square dance friends to sport around their necks and back pockets.
— Tom Pearson