HOF 6.8.25 - Flipbook - Page 21
The Baltimore Sun | Sunday, June 8, 2025 21
SCOTT
DORSEY
Scott Dorsey was working for his cousin’s small real estate and construction business, Merritt, in 1977 when family members sat down together to map out the
company’s future.
Founder Leroy Merritt wanted to create an enterprise that could grow and live on, he told Dorsey, his younger cousin. Just five years out of college, Dorsey recalls
telling Merritt, “I’ll stick around.”
Dorsey, chairman and CEO 53 years after joining Merritt Companies, has made good on that promise. Through ups and downs in commercial real estate, the
company has grown from a couple dozen employees and a 1 million-square-foot portfolio to nearly 200 workers and 20 million square feet. It’s known for building
and leasing industrial parks that typically house small companies on shorter-term leases in spaces averaging 8,000 square feet.
An additional 1,200 people work at Merritt Clubs,
started by a racquetball club tenant of Merritt’s in
Towson in 1977. When the tenant’s investors backed
out, Merritt took over, later expanding the concept to
eight area fitness centers.
Dorsey says Leroy Merritt’s business philosophy
continues to guide the company. Merritt, who died in
2010atage79,wasknownforhisgenerositytoemployees, who are offered equity stakes in the firm.
“When people came to work at Merritt, they came
foracareer,notjustajob,”Dorseysaid.“Wehadalways
had this great culture. It was all about people. Leroy
was there every day. He was fun to be around.”
WhilepursuinganMBAatLoyolaUniversityMaryland, Dorsey recalls feeling reassured when an ethics
professor, a Jesuit priest, advised students on business priorities. He stressed responsibility to employees and subcontractors first, then to customers, then
to owners, and finally to the community.
The guidance happened to align with Merritt’s
values. And it ran counter to a more common philosophyofmaximizingshareholderwealthaboveallelse.
“That’snotthewaywework.Wewerealwaysabout
people, about relationships,” Dorsey said. “I would
go out, and I’d meet people and find out what kind of
space they needed, and we’d design their space plan,
and I’d get the permits and coordinate the construction. It was so satisfying. Every tenant was a different
story.”
Barbara Simmons met Dorsey, then Merritt’s president,about34yearsagowhenshewasarecentcollege
graduate and credit analyst for M&T Bank’s real estate
investmentgroup.Simmonswouldaccompanyexecutives to meet with developers seeking loans. All these
years later, Simmons and M&T are still Merritt’s
lender, but Simmons now heads the mid-Atlantic
commercial real estate group as an executive vice
president.
“I would not be the leader I am today and have the
Name: Scott Dorsey
Age: 75
Hometown: Woodlawn
Current residence: Cockeysville
Education: Milford Mill Academy; Cornell
University, B.A.; Loyola University Maryland, M.B.A.
Career highlights: Joined Merritt as an assistant
superintendent in 1972; became president in 1997
and CEO in 2010; currently chairman and CEO
Civic and charitable activities: Chair, Maryland
Economic Development Corp.; chair, Maryland
Free Enterprise Foundation (formerly Maryland
Business for Responsive Government);
board member and executive committee,
Greater Baltimore Committee; vice chair,
Baltimore County Economic Development
Commission; board member for Baltimore
County Economic Development Advisory
Board, Baltimore Life Coaches, Stevenson
University and Maryland Family Institute
Family: Married to Carolynne Dorsey; three
daughters and one son (deceased); five
grandchildren; one great-grandchild
experience to lead the massive group for the bank that
I lead without Scott,” Simmons said. “He was a client
but kind of my teacher the entire way.”
Simmons called Dorsey “ridiculously technically
smart” in development.
“And he has this ability to connect with people that
is nothing like I’ve seen people do,” she said. “Despite
Scott’s success, he still operates on a level of the average person and has never lost sight of knowing he can
learn as much from his audiences as they learn from
him.”
Growing up near Woodlawn, Dorsey had always
expected to go into his father’s masonry and construc-
tion business. But his father died suddenly when he
wasacollegesenior.Aftergraduation,hewenttowork
for his cousin instead.
Leroy Merritt had started his company in 1967,
initially teaming with developer Ed St. John to meet
a demand for rental warehouse space, then a revolutionary concept. The partners built projects for four
years before splitting the company. St. John formed
Baltimore-based commercial real estate firm St. John
Properties. After Dorsey’s father died in 1971, Dorsey
went to work for Merritt.
ThecompanyhasexpandedbeyondBaltimore,with
offices in Northern Virginia, Raleigh, North Carolina,
and Jacksonville, Florida. Dorsey has stepped away
from day-to-day operations, now handled by President Robb Merritt — Leroy’s son — and spends much
of his time serving on company boards and on civic
and charitable work.
In one such role, Dorsey served on the board of the
Education Foundation of Baltimore County Public
Schools, where he worked with Debbie Phelps, the
motherofformerOlympicswimmerandmedalrecord
holder Michael Phelps.
“Scott is a visionary,” said Phelps, a former principal of Windsor Mill Middle School and the education
foundation’s executive director from 2012 until she
retired in January. “He’s very considerate and kind
and very philanthropic for things dear to his heart.”
One of those areas, she said, is Baltimore County
education. Through a partnership with the foundation, Merritt has provided space for two permanent
teacherresourcecenters.At“Exchangerees,”teachers
can shop monthly at no cost for supplies, all donated.
More than $2.7 million worth of resources have been
redistributed since 2018.
“Scottsawthatneed,andMerrittissupportingthat,”
she said.
— Lorraine Mirabella
